asked the Taoiseach whether, as a matter of protocol, President Hillery, as the Irish Head of State, was invited to extend the welcome of the Irish people to the Soviet Head of State, Mr. Gorbachev, on his recent visit to Ireland; and, if not, the reason.

As a matter of well established international protocol a meeting between heads of state would not have been appropriate in the circumstances of the short working visit by President Gorbachev to Shannon recently.

Surely as a matter of protocol Mr. Gorbachev as a Head of State and President Hillery as a Head of State should have had some arrangements for a meeting?

No, certainly not. It would have been entirely inappropriate. Meetings between Heads of State have a very special protocol attending to them and require certain very necessary preparations and circumstances. The short working visit President Gorbachev did us the honour of paying us would not have been a suitable occasion for such a meeting. The matter did not arise in any quarter.