asked the Taoiseach if he was invited by the Indian Prime Minister to attend a meeting of Heads of Government in New York to discuss peace, disarmament and development; and, if so, his reasons for declining the invitation.

Following the New Delhi Summit last March of the Non-Aligned Movement the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, invited heads of State or Government of the members of the UN to a meeting which was held in New York last month en marge of the current session of the UN General Assembly.

In my reply to Mrs. Gandhi's invitation I indicated that I had hoped to accept but found with regret that, because of pressing domestic commitments here, this just was not possible. I went on to say that the issues which she proposed to have discussed were ones which are of fundamental concern to the entire world and that these were being examined here by Ministers directly concerned in consultation with, as appropriate, our fellow member states of the European Communities.

Due to the fact that the Taoiseach has always attached great importance to cultivating our international friends, does he not consider Mrs. Gandhi a friend and would it not have been a valuable opportunity to make useful contacts with heads of Government, particularly from the Third World?

It is always a problem to balance different commitments, and in the circumstances and under the pressures of the time my judgment was that it was better for me to carry on with my duties here rather than to travel specially to New York for this purpose. The meeting was attended by a number of states but I think only two other members of the EEC were present at one or other of the two meetings that actually occurred.

Does the Taoiseach agree that an urgent initiative is needed which could be best undertaken by neutral and non-aligned countries to try to stop further dangerous escalation of the arms race and to switch badly needed resources to development?

I agree that such an initiative is desirable and indeed is one of the matters to which the world as a whole and all member states of the UN should be giving priority.