Vol. 462 No. 6
48 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for the Marine the purpose of his trip to India in January 1996; and the reason that the Secretary of his Department was in India for ten days at a crucial time in respect of the principle of the Irish Box. [5168/96]
I visited India in January at the invitation of the Indian Government, and in my capacity as Minister for the Marine and Minister for Defence.
The purpose of my visit related to defence matters, particularly UN peacekeeping, marine matters, and the development of general trade relations between Ireland and India as a follow up on the recent trade mission by my colleague, Deputy Enda Kenny, Minister for Trade and Tourism.
Relations between Ireland and India have always been very cordial and have been further strengthened by the close liaison between Irish and Indian forces during UN peacekeeping missions, particularly in Somalia.
There are also growing business contacts between Ireland and India, and especially between IBEC and the Confederation of Indian Industry. In this regard, I was particularly pleased to address as a keynote speaker the Confederation of Indian Industries Partnership Summit in Bombay.
One of the main purposes of my visit, and in this regard I considered it essential that I be accompanied by the Secretary of the Department of the Marine, was to look at the organisation and management in India of the search and rescue services, fishery protection and the co-ordination of coastguard type functions as between the mainline departments with marine related functions and the various arms of the defence forces. This aspect of the visit was particularly relevant given my twin portfolios at Defence and Marine, and the involvement of both Departments in providing key public services in areas such as search and rescue, marine environnment emergency management and fishery protection.
