John Bruton
Ceist:8 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Blair, in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12780/98]
Ceisteanna—Questions. - Meeting with British Prime Minister.
Proinsias De Rossa
Ceist:9 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the outcome of his meeting on 1 June 1998 with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair. [12871/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.
I met Prime Minister Blair in Government Buildings on Monday, 1 June 1998 to discuss a wide range of European issues in the run up to the European Summit in Cardiff on 15-16 June. Prime Minister Blair came to Dublin in his capacity as President of the European Council. His visit formed part of his tour of EU capitals in advance of the summit.
I took the opportunity to welcome Mr. Blair on his first visit as Prime Minister to Dublin and I indicated my intention to ask the Dáil and Seanad to extend an invitation to Mr. Blair to come to Ireland in the autumn to address a joint sitting of both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Prime Minister said he would be happy to accept. The Prime Minister and I had a brief discussion before dinner when we took the opportunity to review the outcome of the referenda, both North and South, and looked forward to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in a balanced and comprehensive way.
At the meeting which took place over dinner, the key items on the Cardiff agenda were discussed. These included the Agenda 2000 negotiations, the broad economic guidelines for the Union and the national employment action plans. Other issues covered were the progress being made in relation to the Union's policies on drugs and organised crime. We also discussed EU enlargement and the shape of the Union, including the European institutions, in the new millennium.
As regards the likely discussions at Cardiff in relation to the Agenda 2000 negotiations, I outlined Ireland's position on the Commission's current proposals on Structural and Cohesion Funds. I emphasised the need for generous transitional arrangements for Ireland under the Structural Funds. I also restated Ireland's opposition to the current Commission proposals for CAP reform and the Government's intention to pursue real improvements on the terms on offer. Prime Minister Blair and I also exchanged views on a number of key international issues, including the Middle East and Kosovo.
I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has acted on the suggestion made by Deputy De Rossa and supported by Deputy Quinn and myself to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Blair to address this House. What outcome does the Taoiseach expect from Cardiff on the various points that were mentioned? Does he expect any substantive decisions to be taken or will it be a parking exercise?
There are a number of issues on which the President of the Council, Prime Minister Blair, would like to see progress. As I said earlier, I do not believe much progress will be made on Agenda 2000 other than on time scales, setting down broad guidelines and reporting on the negotiations at this stage, but I do not believe there will be anything major in regard to conclusions. A discussion on the broad economic guidelines for the Union should give a clear indication of where we will be going in the next period and I believe there will be substantial conclusions from that. The national employment action plans have been received and analysed by the Presidency and it will put forward best practice in terms of what we should be doing to further reduce the high level of unemployment in the community and to address difficulties in that area compared to other blocs throughout the world.
I suspect there will be quite an amount of discussions on security issues. The Kosovo issue took up most of the discussion of the General Affairs group on Monday and it will probably take up a substantial amount of time. There will be some brief discussion on the Good Friday Agreement and on a number of other issues. I believe they will be the main items covered. There was a summit in Avignon between Chancellor Kohl and President Chirac at which they put forward a letter, which effectively is a paper, on issues of subsidiarity, on what will happen after the Amsterdam Treaty has been ratified and what institutional changes should be considered. That matter will also be discussed.
That paper should be put in the bin.
Will the Taoiseach arrange, as in the normal way, an opportunity for statements on the summit next week? This question relates to some extent to the Taoiseach's meeting with Prime Minister Blair in Dublin and his statement that he hoped we could adopt common positions, as between Ireland and Britain, within the European Union. While closer relations between Britain and Ireland are welcome in many instances, a common position with Britain in the European Union would be to the disadvantage to the population of this State. I am thinking in particular of budgetary matters. To tie the Agenda 2000 budget to 1.27 per cent of GDP would be disastrous for an enlarged Union. Will the Taoiseach press for a revision of that figure this weekend? Will he resist the attempts by Chancellor Kohl and others to seek rebates——
The Deputy is dealing with the subject matter of the following questions which deals with the Cardiff Summit.
I am dealing with the reply the Taoiseach gave in relation to the Cardiff Summit.
The Cardiff Summit is the subject of a number of questions.
We will not reach those questions.
If we do not reach them, we cannot deal with them. Deputies should not deal with questions that are not before the House. The Deputy cannot proceed to discuss the Cardiff Summit.
The Taoiseach said he indicated to Prime Minister Blair that he was opposed to the reform programme for CAP. Is the Taoiseach saying the Government is opposed to all reforms of CAP or only this precise proposal in relation to reform?
I was speaking about some of the proposals in the document of 18 March. Regarding the Deputy's earlier question, was he referring to Prime Minister Blair's comments regarding issues on which we could work closer?
Yes. He indicated in reply to a question at a press briefing that he hoped Ireland and Britain could have a common position in the context of Europe.
The Prime Minister mentioned two or three issues in particular, one of which was BSE, in regard to which there will, I hope, be some development today. Other matters related to security, Northern Ireland, drugs, etc. He was not in any way asking me to be tied in to any substantive issues, something we would be totally against. His point is that every time we meet, as was the case with our predecessors, there has effectively been a one item agenda with other items only discussed on the margins. He said that as we moved forward there is more to the islands than one issue, something I totally agree with. I look forward to being able to meet the British Prime Minister to talk about something other than the ongoing security situation in Northern Ireland.
I accept there is a great deal on which both countries can co-operate. Did the Taoiseach raise with the Prime Minister the pollution of the Irish Sea by radioactive waste or the dumping of phosphorus bombs in it which have been washed up on the Irish coast? These are matters we could usefully deal with on a bilateral basis.
Regarding the summit in Cardiff, does the Taoiseach propose raising either during it or on the margins the failure of the Minister for Finance to gain representation for Ireland in the senior management of the European Central Bank and will he try to reverse that disaster?
I mentioned the issues I discussed with the British Prime Minister. Some other issues were not discussed but have been discussed at other meetings at the request of the Ministers for the Environment and Local Government and Marine and Natural Resources.
I understand the Economic and Monetary Institute transferred its 49 full time staff members to the European Central Bank. There are six other members, including three Irish staff who are alternates. The Governor of the Central Bank is on the executive committee of the bank. None of our senior people went for any of the senior positions. A few people may well have got senior positions if they had appplied.
The key question is whether they were encouraged to apply.
The Deputy should ask the Minister for Finance.
The Taoiseach must admit a serious mistake was made.
It is not a serious mistake if a person decides not to apply for a job. Perhaps the Deputy thinks it is, but it would not be a serious mistake if the Deputy did not get a job outside the House because he did not apply for it.
It is a serious mistake that the Minister for Finance failed to ensure applications from Ireland.
There are a few individuals who could have got these jobs. However, they did not apply for them.
It is a serious slip-up.