asked Tánaiste and the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will be attending meetings of the Western European Union in the future.
Written Answers. - WEU Council Meetings.
92.
As a Western European Union observer, Ireland has the right to be represented at all meetings of the Western European Union Council at Ministerial level. Because our observer status is linked to the relationship in the Maastricht Treaty between the European Union and the Western European Union, the Government have indicated that we do not intend fully to exercise our rights as a Western European Union observer until the Maastricht Treaty is ratified. If, however, an occasion should arise before then which would warrant my attendance at a Western European Union Ministerial meeting, I will be able to do so. I have already attended one such meeting — an extraordinary meeting of the Western European Union Council of Ministers in Luxembourg on 5 April 1993 to discuss the crisis in the former Yugoslavia — and Ireland was represented at official level at the Western European Union Ministerial Council in Rome on 19 May 1993.
After the Maastricht Treaty has been ratified, I would envisage attending future meetings of the Western European Union Ministerial Council as an observer, other commitments permitting.