asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government participated in the recent meeting in Stockholm of Foreign Ministers of the European Neutral States prior to the reconvening of the CSCE Conference in Madrid; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Stockholm Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
28.
The Government were not represented at the meeting to which the Deputy refers. The meeting was one of Foreign Ministers of European neutral and non-aligned States — the NNA, as they are called, in the context of the Conference on Security and Co-operaton in Europe (CSCE) — which took place at the end of August. It is understood that the purpose of this meeting of the NNA was to prepare for the resumption of the Madrid follow-up meeting of the CSCE on 9 November next.
During the CSCE negotiations and follow-up meetings caucuses have emerged for the purposes of consultation and co-ordination between different groups of participants. Ireland, as a member of the European Community, through the process of European political co-operation, takes part in the work of co-ordination and consultation between the ten member states of the Community.
There are, of course, other caucuses at the CSCE — for example NATO, the Warsaw Treaty Organisation and the NNA. The Irish delegation at the CSCE had working contacts with all of these other groups but does not participate in their meetings.
As regards consultation and co-ordination on the CSCE between the Ten and the NNA outside the Madrid meeting, there are periodic exchanges of view in the Council of Europe at ministerial and at expert level. Informal ministerial discussions on the CSCE will take place at Strasbourg on 9 November. We have always found these exchanges at Strasbourg useful.
Were the Irish Government formally invited to participate in the conference, or did the Irish Government seek such an invitation?
We were not invited to participate in this meeting, nor did the Irish Government seek an invitation. Ireland does not belong to this group, as I stated in my original reply.
Would the Minister agree that the EEC caucus constituted on an informal basis is concerned with matters peculiarly economic under the general operation of the CSCE, and that Ireland, if it is neutral, should be a member of the NNA caucus in so far as security and defence are concerned? If that is the case, why have we not been represented at the Stockholm conference and why did we not participate in the NNA caucus at Madrid?
As I pointed out, through the process of European political co-operation we participate in the work of co-ordination and consultation on CSCE matters between the ten member states of the EEC. Our particular concerns are taken into account when the positions of the ten are being worked out. I might add that we share many of the objectives of the NNA and that our representatives at the Madrid meeting keep in close contact with the NNA delegation.
It is not fair to put it to the Minister that the fact that we were not invited to participate at the Stockholm conference is a recognition by the neutral and non-aligned states in Europe that, in reality, Ireland is not seen as a neutral nation.
I cannot accept the implication of the Deputy's question.