asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the United States Government gave prior notice to our Government before launching its most recent response to Iranian attacks in the Persian Gulf; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the United States Government did give prior notice to, and consult, its European allies before taking this step; his views on whether our policy of neutrality, which excludes us from all such influence as is implicit in such consultation, in practice tends to eliminate this country from the very peace keeping role which neutrality is officially supposed to confer upon us; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Military Action in Persian Gulf.
14.
The Government received no prior notification of the recent military action by the United States against an Iranian oil platform in the Persian Gulf.
I am aware of reports that the United States Government consulted certain of its allies prior to the events referred to. It is normal that, not being a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, Ireland was not so consulted. I do not accept that our exclusion from such a process of consultation imposes constraints of the kind implied in the Deputy's question. In Ireland's view the UN is the appropriate forum for dealing with international conflicts such as the Iran-Iraq war. Irish efforts are concentrated in that framework and it is this priority in Irish foreign policy which has made Ireland an acceptable participant in most UN peacekeeping operations.
We see the United Nations, and in particular the efforts of the Secretary General, in seeking to secure the acceptance and implementation of Resolution 598 as offering the best hope of a solution. This resolution, unanimously adopted by the Security Council, calls for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal to internationally recognised boundaries. We encourage Iran and Iraq to co-operate with the UN Secretary General in securing the rapid implementation of Resolution 598 as the sole basis, in the UN framework, for a comprehensive, just, honourable and durable settlement.