Vol. 258 No. 11
andMr. Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, having regard to the closer ties which Britain seeks with the existing and applicant members of the EEC, he will make urgent and substantial representations to the European Communities and the Governments of members and applicants with a view to seeking their support to persuade the British Government to alter the policies at present being pursued in Northern Ireland.
9.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs what action has been taken to draw the attention of the Commission and the Council of Ministers of the EEC to the manner in which the present policies of the British Government in Northern Ireland are in conflict with the aim of the Treaty of Rome to promote closer relations between member States of the Community.
10.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if in his seeking UN intervention in the Six Counties the member nations of the EEC will be requested to supply the troops.
13.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether any contact with the Soviet Union Government has been made or is under consideration at the present time in an effort to gain international support on the Northern question.
14.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will state the response of the US and Canadian Governments to his representations concerning the current political situation in Northern Ireland.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 9, 10, 13 and 14 together. In the present situation that exists in the North the Government decided that other governments friendly to Britain and to this country and the Secretary General of the United Nations should be advised of this Government's views. I visited the United Nations Headquarters and since then the Secretary General has indicated that he would be happy to help if both the British and Irish Governments agreed to accept his assistance. The British Government have refused this offer.
I also visited the United States Secretary of State, Mr. William Rogers, the Canadian Minister for External Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Sharp, the French Foreign Minister, M. Maurice Schumann and the French Secretary of State, M. de Lipkowski. While stating the juridical position about non-intervention in the internal affairs of another State, they received me with sympathy and understanding and I am satisfied that they now have a clearer appreciation of the situation from our point of view.
I am making a similar visit to the Italian Foreign Minister. Depending on the course of events, I may visit ministerial colleagues in other countries but have made no definite plans as yet.
Would the Minister not consider that at the present time the area of greatest significance to Ireland and, indeed, to Europe is the EEC and that, therefore, apart from representations to the United Nations, the most important place in which to make representations is Brussels having regard to the political repercussions of events in the North of Ireland from the pending referendum and the very harmful effects on our economy, particularly in tourism, resulting from the events in the North of Ireland which must surely affect our position within the EEC?
All the avenues referred to by the Deputy will be utilised by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Surely the Minister is aware that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has certainly not personally attended at Brussels or made any representations to the Council of Ministers or to the Commission?
He has already spoken to the Foreign Minister of a major European power—France. He is now in Italy on the same mission and will deal with the EEC and other member countries following on these visits with the same purpose in mind.
Question No. 8.
At a time when Britain is orientating her whole policy and making it more European and departing from an Atlantic emphasis in her foreign policy, would the Minister not agree that more pressure could have been exerted by going to European countries first rather than the North American countries? Would he not also agree that it must create an unfortunate impression in European countries that our order of priorities is directed towards an Atlantic influence on Britain rather than towards the areas where Britain is most concerned, the European countries, and that the most important country to have called on first in this foreign tour of the Minister was France?
The important first step was to the United Nations in recognition of the stature of the United Nations as a worldwide organisation including every country and every Continent. By reason of the location of the United Nations, the obvious, practical thing to do, straight away, was to visit the North American countries, the United States of America and Canada. The first opportunity was then taken subsequent to that to go to France, proceed to Italy, then to the EEC and such other member countries as he may see fit to visit.
Are we to understand that the Minister for Foreign Affairs will shortly make direct and personal representations to the EEC in Brussels and not merely to the individual nations in Europe?
The Deputy should appreciate that we are still in the world of sovereign nations——
That is a very important statement.
——and that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as a first requirement, is visiting his counterparts in sovereign nations which count and there will be a visit in due course to the EEC if this is required but the first, paramount endeavour, must be to visit the Ministers of Foreign Affairs or their equivalents in sovereign nations. The explanation straight away as to why this happened in North America as against Europe is that the United Nations is located in New York and the obvious thing from the practical point of view was to visit the two North American Governments and then proceed straight away to France, to Italy and to such other European countries as may be required.
Question No. 8.
May I ask the Minister on what basis the Government decided that the United Nations was the first important one to visit?
As the international organisation of all countries in the world——
He only saw the Assistant Secretary.
I am calling Question No. 8.
Might the Minister be allowed to answer my question?
Might I point out that we have 300 questions on the Order Paper for weeks now and I should like to see the House disposing of some of them.
I do not think it will take too long to answer my question.
