Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has been very clear on the need for a strong inclusive political process to help resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.

That includes dialogue with the Taliban. We are in agreement with the emerging consensus that dialogue with the Taliban is necessary as part of the overall effort to convince Taliban leaders to relinquish the armed struggle and to reintegrate into Afghan society. One key challenge in bringing former Taliban closer into that process will be to maintain and advance the gains made over recent years in the area of human rights and in particular women's rights. Any political solution must also respect the spirit of the Afghan constitution and be compatible with internationally accepted standards of human rights. That said, there is still the fear that while there may be talks with the Taliban at one level as part of the peace process, it may not speak for all of the fighters in the field. We must be particularly mindful of statements made by the Taliban spokesperson that fighting will continue despite the recent opening of a Taliban office in Doha. We must involve the Taliban in the process but that process must be on terms that clearly respect human rights and are about bringing an end to the violence.

In June 2012, the government and political leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the European Commission agreed to a road map which, if implemented, could lead to the conditions for a credible application for EU membership. Important elements in that road map include an amendment to the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina to make it compliant with the Sejdic-Finci ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and establishing an effective co-ordination mechanism on EU affairs among the levels of government of Bosnia-Herzogivina. Implementation of the Sejdic-Finci ruling is essential for a decision of the European Council on the entry into force of the stabilisation and association agreement for Bosnia-Herzegovina. While the timetable for that road map has slipped, the commitments entered into by the political leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina remain valid. I did say in response to a Dáil question recently that I believed that there needs to be a review of the EU position on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

As I mentioned earlier, a scoping mission recently visited Burma-Myanmar. It focused on progressing development and other bilateral links between Ireland and Burma-Myanmar. The mission included an assessment of options for a small number of niche areas in which a development programme supported by Ireland could have impact and respond to local needs. In terms of our relationship with Burma-Myanmar, we are at quite an early stage. If we can get a programme up and running, we will then be in a much better position to assess the situation on the ground. Otherwise, we are relying largely on the reports coming through the EU and which are publicly available.

The situation in Cyprus remains a concern. We want to see the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions and continue to call on Turkey to comply with those resolutions. I understand that there have been contacts between the parties under the aegis of the UN and we look forward to positive developments emerging from that.

In respect of the point made by Senator Norris, we believe in the universality of human rights and have a very consistent position on them irrespective of the country concerned. It is important that political progress is made in Egypt. There will be a lengthy discussion on this on Monday. Some other European foreign Ministers have expressed themselves in terms similar to those used by me in respect of the military takeover.