Vol. 408 No. 7
46 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the plans he has to review the existing sanctions against South Africa in view of the EC decision to restore a normal trading relationship with the country; and his views on whether statements by the South African leadership have not been applied to the degree that the apartheid system has been eliminated.
To the extent that the Community sanctions imposed against South Africa in 1986 have been lifted, the Government have removed related national measures. As regards national policy towards South Africa, including the question of sanctions, the Taoiseach has made it clear in recent statements in the Dáil that Irish policy, too, will evolve in line with developments in South Africa.
With respect to the second part of the Deputy's question, the legislative proposals currently before the South African Parliament will, once enacted, remove the remaining pillars of the apartheid system. I refer here to the draft Bills to repeal the Group Areas Act and the Land Acts, and to repeal the Population Registration Act, subject to certain transitional arrangements. These essential reforms will eliminate the statutory basis of the apartheid system and greatly enhance the prospects for negotiations on the establishment of a united, non-racial and democratic South Africa. The new, pluralist South Africa must be the fruit of all-party negotiations aimed at drawing up a new constitution which guarantees to all South Africans an effective role in the governing of their own country. As the Taoiseach has already said in the Dáil, President de Klerk, during his visit to Ireland on 25 April gave us firm assurances that his programme is to move steadily towards a pluralist democracy in South Africa. The Government believe that these assurances can be accepted and that President de Klerk is fully committed to the abolition of apartheid.
