asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs what action the Government has taken to draw the attention of the United Nations to the fact that the obligations of some UN covenants ratified by the British Government are not universally respected within the United Kingdom by reason of the non-applicability of Westminster legislation to Northern Ireland; if it is permissible for a State to exempt a part of its territory ruled by a subordinate regional parliament from the obligations of covenants ratified by its national Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - UN Covenants.
8.
I would not be prepared to allege that another country was in violation of its treaty obligations without exhaustive examination of all legal aspects of the case. I am aware that the British Race Relations Acts, 1965 and 1968, explicitly do not extend to Northern Ireland.
As to the second part of the question, I would regard Article 29 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties as declaratory of the present position in international law. That Article provides that "unless a different intention appears from the treaty or is otherwise established, a treaty is binding upon each party in respect of its entire territory".
Does the Minister not recall that on previous occasions in this House he has offered as a reason for not ratifying international covenants that because of absence of legislation or other provisions within our realm we were not in a position to certify universal respect for the particular obligations within our own territory? If this be a valid reason for Ireland failing to subscribe to some of the terribly important covenants of the United Nations, surely it is true that Britain has wrongly ratified some of the conventions to which she is a party because by her own legislation she has specifically excluded the Six Counties of Northern Ireland from the obligations of those covenants?
I shall go along with the Deputy to the extent that we feel there is a case along the lines that Britain is in breach of the convention but it is a very complex legal issue and we are examining the situation in detail at the moment. There does appear to be a case that they are in breach and we want to examine it in detail to ensure that we are on certain ground before proceeding further.
Would the Minister draw attention to the fact——
I am calling Question No. 11. Let us make some progress.
——that a Member of the British Parliament, Mr. Paul Rose, endeavoured to have the Bill in question extended to the North of Ireland and also endeavoured to have inserted in the Bill a provision that discrimination on religious grounds would be prohibited and that this was defeated by the British Parliament?
I am aware of that. That would be part of the presentation of it.