asked the Taoiseach if he has received an invitation to attend an international conference on pollution, which is being held in The Hague, Holland, later this month, and which is being attended by a number of European Heads of Government; if, in view of the importance of the issue to be discussed, he will be attending the conference; if not, if he will be represented at the conference; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Conference on Pollution.
2.
The Governments sponsoring this conference have, for reasons which the Dutch Prime Minister has outlined to me, invited only a limited cross section of poor, developing and industrialised countries; their invitations did not extend to Ireland, nor I understand, to the USA, China, the USSR, and many other countries.
The Deputy can be assured that the Government are playing their full part in international organisations to which we belong, namely the European Community and the United Nations, in finding solutions to global environmental problems. He will have noted my statement on the issue in the House last December when reporting on the outcome of the Rhodes European Council and also the Minister for the Environment's successful initiative at last week's EC Environmental Council meeting.
I take it that the Taoiseach is saying he will not be sending a representative to this conference.
No. We are not invited. We are in fairly good company in not being invited.