asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland's representative on the Security Council of the United Nations will be raising during 1981 the general question of mandatory sanctions, including oil and arms embargoes, against South Africa; and whether the Government have been in contact with the United Nations Committee against Apartheid to discuss the most effective ways in which this matter could be raised.

35.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that a conference has been arranged and organised by the United Nations, in co-operation with the Organisation of African Unity, on the question of sanctions against South Africa and that it will be held in Paris from 20 to 27 May; whether Ireland proposes to be represented officially at that conference; and if he will indicate whether the Government have formally contacted the personnel responsible within the United Nations to date indicating the participation which we propose to have.

36.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether and, if so, how Ireland and the European Economic Community will participate in the proposed United Nations Conference on Apartheid in Paris next May.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take questions Nos. 34, 35 and 36 together.

The general position of the Government in relation to the policies they will pursue on the Security Council was set out in reply to a question on 9 December last in which I indicated that the Government intended to play their part in efforts to resolve whatever international disputes would be considered.

In view of the commitment given by the Minister and Deputy O'Donoghue on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party in this House vis-á-vis the pursuit of internationally agreed sanctions against South Africa, could the Minister be a little more specific as to what action, in the form of initiatives, this Government—which now has a seat on the Security Council—propose to take in the coming year, if any?

I want to offer my apologies to the Deputy. I am afraid the remaining pages of the answer to these questions were put at a later part of the brief and not where they should have been. I thought I pulled up rather sharply. I shall re-read the full reply:

The general position of the Government in relation to the policies they will pursue on the Security Council was set out in reply to a question on 9 December last in which I indicated that the Government intended to play their part in efforts to resolve whatever international disputes would be considered by the Council. I also said that where Ireland had established positions on particular issues our policy would continue to be based on those positions.

The attitude of the Government towards mandatory sanctions against South Africa has been stated on several occasions. In my address last September to the 35th General Assembly of the United Nations I urged the Security Council to continue its consideration of selective measures to increase the pressure for change within South Africa. In line with this policy Ireland has, within the UN, endorsed a number of specific proposals for concerted action.

First, we consistently supported the idea of an arms embargo; and since the embargo was imposed by the Security Council we have observed it. Measures to strengthen the implementation of the arms embargo will be discussed by the Security Council in the near future on the basis of a report from a Special Committee established by the Council to monitor the embargo. Secondly, at the General Assembly last year we co-sponsored a resolution urging the Security Council to consider the cessation of all new foreign investment in and financial loans to South Africa. Thirdly, we supported a resolution requesting the Security Council to consider a mandatory embargo on the supply to South Africa of petroleum and petroleum products. In addition, fourthly, we have declared ourselves ready to consider further action by the international community—effective, coordinated measures, on a considered basis—to bring pressure to bear on South Africa to abandon its apartheid policies.

As the Deputies' questions indicate international sanctions against South Africa will be examined at an UN/OAU international conference to be held in Paris from 20 to 27 May. Ireland will be represented at the Conference. We voted in favour of resolutions calling for the organisation of such a Conference at the last two Sessions of the General Assembly and we were represented at a meeting of the Conference's Preparatory Committee in New York from 11 to 13 March. In addition our Permanent Representative to the United Nations has been in contact with the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, who is also the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, about Ireland's participation in the Conference.

Finally I should emphasise that the Government are gravely concerned at the maintenance of the apartheid system in South Africa and at the threat which the recent actions of the South African armed forces in Angola and Mozambique pose to the stability of the region and to international peace. The Government will consider the possibilities for further international action in the light of the deliberations of the Sanctions Conference and of consultations with the other members of the Security Council.

While I appreciate the Minister's detailed reply, could he indicate — leaving aside all the its and buts — that this State will clearly support and actively campaign for an agreed system of an oil embargo on South Africa and that if necessary it will not, as it has done in the past, abstain at the United Nations Security Council, in deference to European political co-operation because of the vested interests of certain other Community Members?

As the reply pointed out, we have already supported a resolution requesting a mandatory embargo on the supply to South Africa of petroleum and petroleum products.

Do this Government propose to actively campaign within the process of EPC for such an embargo having regard to the known opposition of certain major member states of the Community?

We have made it clear that this is our view. As the Deputy will appreciate, there are some inhibitions on our total freedom of action on a matter such as this caused by our membership of the Community which we cannot entirely ignore.

Is the Minister saying to the House that, up to a certain point, we are prepared to go along with all these nice phrases but that if Germany, Britain or France put the squeeze on us, we will bow down and abstain? Is that what the Minister is saying?

I am not saying that.

Well, it sounds very like it.

I have already pointed out to the Deputy that we supported a resolution asking the Security Council to consider a mandatory embargo on the supply of petroleum and petroleum products. We cannot go much further than that on this matter.

Would the Minister not agree that the effectiveness of an oil embargo has, at best, about three years before they replace it with SASOL? On foot of what the Government promised in this House last week, is the Minister not prepared to say that this Government will actively campaign for such an embargo?

We have already publicly——

No, the Government have not. Will the Government campaign for one? The Minister's silence is extremely eloquent.

37.