asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has details regarding Irish citizens working in Libya; his views on the attack by the United States on Libya; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Private Notice Questions. - American Action in Libya.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs in view of the US air attacks on Libya, if he will say the measures, if any, the Government are taking to ensure the safety and welfare of Irish citizens there; if in view of the threat posed by these attacks to world peace, the Government intend to take any initiatives either directly, or through the EC or the United Nations to help defuse the dangerous situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if in view of the grave threat to world peace arising from American action in Libya, he will press for an urgent initiative by the United Nations to prevent any escalation of the situation.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if any indication was given at yesterday's Foreign Affairs Council meeting in the Hague of this morning's US attack on Libya; the attitude the UK expressed at that meeting; the conclusions the Council came to; and the Government's view on this morning's attack in the light of the danger it poses to European security and world peace.
I propose to take all the Private Notice Questions relating to this morning's events in Libya together. The Government are gravely concerned at the confrontation between the United States and Libya which has been brought about by recent acts of terrorism.
Their immediate priority is to ensure the welfare of Irish citizens in Libya. In this connection, an officer from the Irish Embassy in Rome, which is accredited to Libya, is at the present time seeking to visit that country to provide information about Irish citizens and to give whatever assistance may be required. The Department of Foreign Affairs is also in contact with Community states which have resident Embassies in Libya and is actively seeking their assistance.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy in Rome have succeeded in making telephone contact with several Irish citizens in Libya. On the basis of information available to the Department, it would appear that most Irish citizens are safe and well and we would hope that all our citizens will also be able eventually to report safe and well. The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing an emergency telephone service to deal with calls from relatives and friends seeking information about Irish citizens in Libya. While at the moment there are delays in telephone communications with Libya, telephone lines are open in both directions. Tripoli airport is currently reported closed and we have no information as yet as to when it is likely to reopen.
The Government strongly share the concerns of the United States about international terrorism. For our own part, we believe that terrorism can be defeated by political methods aimed at the isolation of those who engage in or support terrorist acts. In co-operation with our partners in the Twelve, we have been co-ordinating measures against terrorist attacks and to ensure the eradication of this evil. In the statement which they issued last night, the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve emphasised that States clearly implicated in supporting terrorist acts should renounce such support and respect the rules of international law. They called upon Libya to act accordingly. I have placed the full text of the Twelve statement in the Library.
In order to assist the achievement of a political solution, the Twelve Foreign Ministers in their statement also underlined the need for restraint on all sides. The Government now appeal to all sides to avoid further actions which would escalate international tensions and lead to further tragic loss of life.
The Security Council of the United Nations is already seized of the crisis in US-Libyan relations. They will resume their consideration of the crisis today. Ireland is not currently a member of the Security Council but our Permanent Representative at the UN is following closely all developments.
The Government are remaining in close touch with our partners in the Twelve in this matter. It is likely that there will be a further meeting of the Twelve Foreign Ministers in the next few days which I will, of course, be attending.
Community Foreign Ministers at their meeting yesterday had no advance indication of the American action.
Does the Minister deplore the US attack on Libya particularly in view of the large number of civilian casualities and of the threat that such action poses to world peace? In view of the statement by President Reagan that he is prepared to launch a similar attack again, is the Minister concerned for the future safety of Irish citizens working in Libya and does he consider that he has a special responsibility to convey in the strongest terms possible to the US Government his concern for the safety of those Irish citizens and also his abhorrence at the thought of any further bombing raids.
Of course I am concerned about the safety of Irish citizens, whether in Libya, Berlin, Rome or Vienna and I should hope that the events which culminated in the attack on Libya this morning, that is, international terrorism, could be eradicated so that such measures would not be necessary in the future.
Is the Minister not prepared to condemn categorically what was clearly a terrorist attack by the US on Libya? Everyone here would support the Minister's condemnation of any involvement that Libya may have had in terrorist attacks on citizens of any State but would the Minister not condemn the American attack on innocent Libyan people? This is an important occasion in terms of the Government demonstrating their independence and their condemnation of terrorism, regardless of where that terrorism emanates from.
We should not lose sight of the events that gave rise to this morning's incident. It is not sufficient to say that we should condemn the US in this instance when clearly US citizens were under terrorist attack for the past few months in many parts of the world by way of actions that appeared to be the result of encouragement or even active support from Libya to terrorists. We should bear that in mind when we think of what has happened. Obviously, I would not have available to me information that would allow me to say that the Americans were justified in the action they took but I am sure that when the UN meets this evening, the US action will be justified to world opinion.
Will the Minister confirm that it is the position of the Irish Government that all international disputes should be settled by peaceful means? Would he agree that it is not legitimate to engage in military action in response to terrorist attacks? In other words, would he agree that it is not legitimate internationally for a country to respond by way of large-scale military action to any terrorist attack or to any series of such attacks? Also, will the Minister deal specifically with the matter I raised in my question, namely, whether the Irish Government, by whatever means available to them, will press for an initiative by the UN, because whatever view one takes of this incident, we can all agree that it has serious and dangerous implications for world peace?
I said in my original reply that for our own part we believe that terrorism can be defeated by political methods aimed at the isolation of those who engage in or support terrorist acts. The actions of this Government within our own country in the past few years must underline our very strong belief in politics rather than in action of another kind. However, it is clear that since last summer deliberately provocative acts of terrorism have been aimed at US citizens in many parts of the world, particularly around the Mediterranean. We are not a member of the UN Security Council but I suspect that when the Council meet later today the US will justify their action.
I asked the Minister three questions: first, if he would confirm that the Irish Government are in favour of the settlement, by peaceful means and preferably through the agency of the UN, of all international disputes.
That is what I have said.
Secondly, I asked him whether he accepts that it is not legitimate in principle for a nation to respond to terrorist attacks by way of large-scale military intervention.
I have said that this Government believe strongly that politics and dialogue are the means of solving problems either here or in other parts of the world. We regard the UN as the world body which oversees those solutions but there is such a concept as self defence, a concept that has been invoked on many occasions. I am not saying that will be the reason given today at the UN but it is the reason that has been put forward by some of America's friends and allies as a justification for what happened.
Can the Minister say whether he considers what happened this morning to have been in breach of international law and whether he considers that the self defence option is open to a country on the basis that some of its citizens were attacked two or three weeks previously?
It is not for me to interpret international law here. Clearly I believe that the American Government were confident that they were acting this morning within international law. I understand that in those circumstances self defence is acceptable.
Does the Minister support US action in attacking Libya?
I thought I had answered that clearly. I understand the attitude of the Americans following terrorist attacks on some US citizens in four or five different parts of Europe, in some instances by groups of whom Libya has been supportive. The provocation posed by those attacks presumably prompted the American Government's decision to attack Libya this morning.
I am pressing the Minister to answer the question. Does he support the US action against Libya?
I deplore any action that is necessary in this regard which endangers lives or causes lives to be lost but conversely I deplore the actions that lead countries to believe that retaliation of this kind is necessary. We have taken that line consistently and I wish all Deputies would adopt the same line.
There are serious implications in the Minister saying that US action was necessary on the basis of alleged previous action by Libyan terrorists. On that basis would it be the opinion of the Minister that any state, the UK for instance, would be correct, presumably on the basis that they believed themselves to be correct, to launch an attack on Ireland because of terrorist acts by Irish people in Britain? That would seem to be the logic of what the Minister is saying. What is his reaction to the use by the US of its air bases in Europe to launch the attack on Libya?
I said that I understand that the Americans may say their action was necessary on the basis of attacks on their citizens throughout the world. I do not think that this House and myself in particular are in possession of enough facts at the moment to make a judgement on that, but I believe that over time the facts will evolve and we will be able to come to a cooler and more clearly argued decision as to whether the action was justified. I believe the Americans in taking the action they did last night, felt they were justified in international law and morally.
What the Minister says must urge me to ask this question. Are he and the Irish Government not deeply concerned that this situation contains grave dangers for world peace? I would ask him to deal with that question specifically. Is there not in his view and in the view of the Irish Government inherent in this situation a very real danger to world peace and the possibility of an outbreak of war? In those circumstances would he not agree with me that the important thing for the Irish Government to do at this stage is to use every possible resource at their disposal to stop this situation from escalating any further? That should be a key objective of Irish foreign policy — to stop any possible further escalation or extension of this threatening, dangerous and ominous situation. Would he care to comment on those two aspects of this matter and perhaps give us some hope or some indication of action by the Government in the light of those fears which I think are universally held throughout this country at the moment?
Of course the Irish Government are gravely concerned, as I said in my reply, about any violence taking place in the world which has the potential to escalate into a wider area.
We are deeply concerned about that. It is because of that concern, which is not just peculiar to the Irish Government but is shared by all the countries of the Twelve, that a special emergency meeting of the Twelve Foreign Ministers was called yesterday. There is a probability that a further meeting will be called the day after tomorrow to deal with the situation which has changed in the last 24 hours.
Of course we will use all our good offices in the United Nations to give whatever aid we can to the Secretary General, or to whatever other body would wish to seek to bring an end to the causes and the effects of what has occurred in the last few days. I have to stress again that the Security Council is meeting today, possibly at this moment. We are not a member of it but we will give encouragement to anybody on that Security Council to try to bring about a solution and to avoid any further escalation of what occurred yesterday.
Could I press the Minister to respond to my question regarding the attitude of the Government to the use of the US air base in the UK to launch this attack on a third country and what implications he sees in that action for the security of Europe generally?
That is a matter between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain. It has nothing to do with us, nor have we any role in it.
Could I put it to the Minister that we are on the verge of signing a European agreement in relation to European political co-operation and we have been involved informally in that process, for some time, which includes European security. Clearly we have an involvement and an interest in the effects which the use of US bases in Britain to launch attacks on a third country may have on that situation.
The Deputy knows that is a misrepresentation of what the European Act is about. The European Act as regards security is concerned with political and economic security. It is quite specifically not concerned with defence security.
It is concerned with security and presumably security includes——
It is concerned with economic security.
—— security from attack and security from the use of European soil to launch attacks.
I can see that the misrepresentation which has surrounded the debate on the signing of the European Act for the last few months is going to continue. I have made this point at least three times in the House and Deputy De Rossa is either not listening or does not choose to hear. The European Act is not concerned with defence security. It is concerned with economic and political security only.