Ray Burke
Ceist:1 Mr. R. Burke asked the Taoiseach when he will announce the date of the next Anglo-Irish Summit. [13217/95]
Written Answers. - Anglo-Irish Summit.
John Ellis
Ceist:7 Mr. Ellis asked the Taoiseach if he will confirm that it is Government policy that the decommissioning of weapons is not a precondition to participation by Sinn Féin in all-party talks in view of his statement in Dáil Éireann on 24 January 1995. [13128/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 7 together.
While the Government wish to see the decommissioning of all illegally-held weapons, they remain of the view that the decommissioning of weapons by the IRA should not be a precondition to participation by Sinn Féin in all-party talks — particularly in view of the very strong guarantee by the Irish and British Government in the Joint Declaration and Joint Framework Document that no change will be made in the status of Northern Ireland without the consent of a majority of the people there. At the same time, as I indicated in the Dáil on 24 January, the Government recognise that the position of some other parties would show that progress on decommissioning is required in advance of all-party talks. The idea of an International Commission remains under active consideration as a way of moving matters forward in these circumstances.
I suggested the postponement of the Summit to allow some more time to attempt to resolve outstanding differences. The British Prime Minister agreed to my suggestion and the date of the Summit will be announced as soon as we are in a position to do so.