asked the Minister for External Affairs if Ireland is a signatory to the UNESCO Agreement; and, if so, whether this debars the imposition of taxation on any educational material.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - UNESCO Agreement.
64.
I assume the Deputy is referring to either the UNESCO agreement for facilitating the international circulation of visual and auditory materials of an educational, scientific and cultural character, or the UNESCO agreement on the importation of educational, scientific and cultural materials. Ireland is not a signatory to either agreement at present but the matter has been under consideration.
65.
asked the Minister for Finance whether this country is debarred as a signatory of a UNESCO agreement from imposing wholesale tax on books, fiction or non-fiction, bound or soft cover, on the grounds that such publications are educational in whole or in part; if this agreement excludes newspapers and periodicals; and, if so, what criteria are used to differentiate between these two types of publication.
As this country is not a signatory of any UNESCO agreement relating to books, the matters referred to in the question do not arise.