Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 May 1994

Vol. 442 No. 3

Written Answers. - US Delegation.

John Bruton

Question:

65 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee was invited to send a delegation of Congressmen and Senators to Ireland to begin conducting public hearings on the Northern Ireland question; if his attention has been drawn to the intention, if any, of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to send such a delegation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring):

No invitation has been extended by the Government to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to send a delegation to Ireland to begin conducting public hearings on the Northern Ireland question. I am not aware of any intention on the part of that committee to send such a delegation.

The Deputy may have in mind a quite separate proposal for increased exchanges between the Oireachtas and the Congress. It is hoped that a delegation from the Oireachtas will visit the United States later this year and that a Congressional delegation will visit Ireland in 1995.