Both the items of legalisation before the House this afternoon have been necessitated by the ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé, which I signed, subject to ratification, on behalf of Ireland at Lomé in West Africa on 28th February last. This convention was made between the individual EEC states and the Council of the Communities on the one hand and a group of 46 developing states —called the African, Caribbean and Pacific States or ACP States—on the other. It is a far-reaching and complex document whose provisions I do not propose to go into at the moment. Suffice to say that it provides for free entry of many agricultural and industrial products into the EEC, the grant of aid to ACP countries and the stabilisation of commodity prices. Two further internal agreements were drawn up between EEC countries relating to the fulfilment of their obligations under the convention. These were approved by the Dáil at the same time as the Lomé Convention itself.
In order to fulfil Ireland's obligations under the convention and the related internal agreements and so enable ratification to take place, legislation is necessary in two spheres, namely, diplomatic immunities, the subject of the present Bill, and financial guarantees to the European Investment Bank, the subject of the second Bill before this House this afternoon.
Protocol No. 5 to the convention provides for privileges and immunities. It provides that certain named categories of persons, such as representatives of the Governments of EEC and ACP states and members of the Consultative Assembly set up under the convention, shall enjoy "the customary privileges immunities and facilities while carrying out their duties under the Convention and while travelling to and from the places at which they are required to carry out those duties". Although it is not anticipated that many of the persons in question will be travelling to Ireland in the course of their duties—certainly not in the immediate future—it is essential to make provision for these immunities under domestic law before we move to ratification.
It was not possible to proceed by order under the existing terms of the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act, 1967. This Act, enables immunities to be conferred by order on international organisations of which the State becomes a member and on officials of such organisations and delegates to them. Under the Lomé Convention there are organs, such as a Committee of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly, on which all the EEC states and ACP states will be represented, but there is no organisation as such of which states or their governments become members. For this reason the power to provide for immunities by order under the 1967 Act was not applicable.
This explains the necessity for legislation. Now I come to the form of the legislation proposed. It would have been possible to introduce a Bill providing only for the privileges and immunities of persons covered by the Lomé Convention. However, on the advice of the Attorney General, I decided on a Bill which was wider in scope and permits Orders to be made providing for immunities whenever an obligation to grant such immunities is imposed under an international agreement to which the State or the Government is or intends to become party. This is particularly desirable because it is possible that the European Communities will be making further external agreements with third countries similar in form to the Lomé Convention. Such agreements would be likely to provide for aid to these countries, so taking the matter outside the exclusive Community competence and making the individual member states such as Ireland necessary parties. It is likely also that they will provide for immunities for those involved in their implementation and administration. It would be unfortunate if ratification by Ireland had to be delayed in such cases while parliamentary time was found to process legislation through both Houses of the Oireachtas on the relatively subsidiary matter of diplomatic immunities.
In commending this Bill to Senators I should stress that it is really only an application of the mode of granting immunities contained in the 1967 Act. It is firmly within the principle of that Act, a fact stressed by the manner of its drafting as an additional section thereof. Under section 40 of the 1967 Act, as I have said, the Government were given power to designate by order any international organisation, community or body of which the State or the Government had become or intended to become a member. It was provided further by section 42 that such an order could provide for immunities and privileges to be enjoyed by such a designated organisation, its organs, members, officials and delegates. All that this Bill does is to extend this enabling power to cover all immunities granted under international agreements, notwithstanding that such an agreement does not involve the State or the Government becoming a member of any international organisation.
There is no logical reason why it should be more cumbersome or difficult to give legislative effect to immunities for which provision is made in an international agreement to which the State is a party just because that agreement does not involve the State or the Government becoming a member of an international organisation. I should stress that all the safeguards under the 1967 Act will apply to any immunities granted under this Bill. An order will have to be made by the Government and this will be subject to annulment within 21 days by either House of the Oireachtas, as provided by section 3 of the 1967 Act. Moreover there is the additional safeguard that the immunities, conferred by virtue of the amending Act, will have to be contained in an international agreement which will, in the normal course, have to be laid before Dáil Éireann.
The Lomé Convention cannot enter into force until it has been ratified by all the member states of the Community. Seven of the other member states have already done so and the remaining country, Italy, is understood to be about to take the necessary steps to do so. It is my wish, and I am sure that both sides of the House would share this wish, that Ireland ratify the convention as soon as possible so that it may come into effect on the earliest possible date. By ratifying this convention, which, as the other House so clearly recognised in November, marks a new and important initiative in relations with the developing countries, Ireland will once again demonstrate her solidarity with the less fortunate peoples of the world. It is essential that Ireland be in a position to fulfil all her obligations under the convention before proceeding to ratification. I would therefore urge the House to vote this legislation as a matter of priority.