Dick Spring
Ceist:1 Mr. Spring asked the Taoiseach the reason he was accompanied to the recent CSCE meeting in Paris by representatives of the social partners.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Paris Summit.
The French Government, who hosted the Summit, made specific provision for Heads of State or Government to be accompanied by representatives of important interests and sectors in their societies. It was against this background, and the wider implications to the work of the Summit, which also covered economic and social considerations, that I issued my invitation to the representatives of the social partners.
First, can the Taoiseach say whether he had discussions with the persons who accompanied him to the CSCE meeting beforehand in relation to all aspects of the agenda?
No, not fully but we carried on a running dialogue throughout the course of the meeting which, after all, went on for three days.
Did the Taoiseach select the people who travelled with him or did the various representative groups nominate their representatives? Is the Taoiseach now telling the House that no discussions took place with the representatives of the social partners in relation to issues such as European security or defence, or other topics related to those matters?
No, I did not discuss those matters in advance with the social partners. I saw the participation of the social partners as more specifically directed to the economic and social aspects of the conference which did represent a fairly considerable proportion of the work of the Summit.
Is the Taoiseach satisfied that significant progress on economic and social matters was made at the Summit?
Yes, I think so. Of course, a lot of preliminary work had been done at the Bonn conference in the economic area and at the Copenhagen meeting on human rights aspects. I think the general view would be that the Summit in Paris did take the whole process further.
Can the Taoiseach tell the House what specific role was played by the people he brought with him to the Summit? For example, were they consulted by him in relation to aspects of the negotiations that were taking place, or did they participate in any other way in the three days' events?
They participated as observers. All participating countries were encouraged to broaden their delegations in view of the importance of the Summit and the range of matters which were up for discussion.
So they were there as observers only?
They were there primarily as observers. Principally they were there as representatives of the social partners.
Is the Taoiseach saying they played no role other than passive observers?
I want to deal with other questions.
Were they consulted? Did they participate?
The Deputy has already put that question.
I value their comments and contributions on the different aspects.