Vol. 395 No. 3
14 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Defence if he or any officers of his Department have been involved in any discussions concerning common European security policy either at home or abroad; if he will outline his attitude to any such discussions; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
31 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Defence if the Chief of Staff was invited to the meeting of the European Chiefs of Staff held recently in Vienna; if he attended; and, if not, the reason.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 31 together. As Ireland is not a member of any military alliance the question of security co-operation between the Defence Forces and the armed forces of other European States does not arise.
However, Ireland has, for a number of years been a participant in the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe — known as the CSCE — which seeks to achieve more stable and secure relations between the 35 member states. Within the framework of that conference, Ireland is currently a participant in the negotiations on confidence and security building measures which opened in Vienna in March 1989. As part of this process officers of the Defence Forces attend as observers at military exercises conducted in various States in Europe.
The Chief of Staff participated in the Seminar on Military Doctrines held recently in Vienna.
Would the Minister agree that the Taoiseach's recent statement would compromise our tradition of neutrality? Is he not embarrassed by that statement?
No, there is a difference here. This is the Helsinki process, as it is known in Europe, which embraces all states of Europe under the umbrella of this Vienna conference now meeting and which met previously in Madrid, Stockholm, Belgrade and Helsinki itself. This conference embraces all countries from the Atlantic to the Urals. The USSR take part in it as well as all the Eastern European countries in addition to Canada and the United States. This conference is engaged in the whole process of détente, of reducing arms, of building up confidence measures such as human rights, economic co-operation democratisation and so on, all of which aspects are brought together at this Vienna Conference. Indeed events over the past six months in central and Eastern Europe have made this conference very relevant. This conference will provide the framework — and this is what Gorbachev and Mitterrand are currently talking about — within which a confederation of all the states of Europe will be able to participate in very useful measures of co-operation for the future, bringing the type of peace desirable in Europe as a whole. It is within that framework I am talking. In my view it is an important one now and will be in the immediate future.
Would the Minister say whether Ireland's involvement in this process involves the creation of any obligations, bilateral or otherwise or any reciprocal arrangements between member states such as attendance at manoeuvres, training exercises or indeed the sale of or trade in arms?
No. None of the areas mentioned by the Deputy comes within the ambit of our participation within this process. Our participation is geared primarily to the establishment of con-fidence-building measures, the ways of investigating and monitoring arms reductions and what procedures should be adopted to ensure that everything is done by each country in accordance with decisions made at the conference. In that context of course it is necessary that we have some knowledge of what is taking place and it is in that context also that our Army personnel attend the particular committee that is concerned with confidence and security-building measures. We do not attend another committee which is meeting at the same time and which is concerned with the direct armaments aspects but we are on the committee that is concerned with the investigating and monitoring of the disarmament and the arms reduction proposals. This is an important committee in which we have an input. Disarmament has always been a very strong international commitment of ours and we have always played this role within CSCE since the signing of the Helsinki Agreement.
I accept the Minister's assurances and I have no criticism of our involvement but does the monitoring process in any way require our commitment towards a common defence strategy such as communications and the installation of other such units?
No. It is entirely concerned with setting up particular inspectorial procedures that can home in on commitments that are made in the course of the negotiations as to, for instance, the reduction of a particular type of weaponry. It is important that that commitment is made and observed and that procedures are established whereby a satisfactory process of investigation is instituted. It is in that inspectorial area of making disarmament and arms reduction measures effective that we are primarily concerned.
Respecting the Minister's great care with words and accepting that our attendance as observers at military training exercises is, in substance, what he says, why are they not described as an exercise in positive neutrality rather than as a contribution towards future European security and, even by some people, as a future European common defence?
I am not responsible for the name of this process that was established in Helsinki in the mid-seventies. It is called the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe and has been operating in various states of activity since then. It has now been given a new lease of life, as it were, by reason of events that have made it very relevant at present. I can assure the Deputy that the Irish contribution is solely on concentration on this investigative and monitoring aspect. We are in no way concerned with the actual practical requirements of scaling down. That is outside our ambit and is a matter for the two defence organisations concerned. What we want to ensure is that when the member countries of these two defence organisations make commitments, they are observed and that we have effective disarmament and arms reduction.
I apologise for not being here when the question was answered but I thought it would not be reached today. Did the Minister say that the Chief of Staff had been invited?
Yes. He attended a seminar on military doctrines held recently in Vienna. He attended as part of our contribution within the committee that is concerned with——
Confidence building and security.
Exactly.
