H.E. Mr. George Zurabashvili:

I wish to say a few words to my colleague, Mrs. Miculet. She got some insight from the Government so that shows it is achievable for people.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The European Union monitoring mission was launched after the 2008 war was over. It was launched with Irish help. Deputy Micheál Martin was the Minister for Foreign Affairs at that time, if I am not mistaken. The decision was made by all EU member states and the Irish contribution is absolutely fabulous, with seven Irish serving on the ground in Georgia. It is a non-military observer mission. The members of the mission cannot fulfil their obligations fully because the Russians do not allow them to cross the occupation line, regardless that this is a part of the ceasefire agreement, the Six-Point Agreement.

In answer to what in addition can be done by the United Nations or the European Union, I will say first of all that the ceasefire agreement was achieved by the mediation and help of the European Union, which was by that time under the French Presidency. There absolutely will be a big necessity to hear more vocal support and calls by the European Union to make Russia fulfil the obligations it has signed. There is the Six-Point Agreement, including the condition that it does not allow the human rights violations that are happening in occupied territories and, of course, the withdrawal of the Russian occupied troops.

As for the United Nations, of course, that will be the same, with the vocal participation of United Nations members and especially the Security Council members and Ireland in particular. Where we are right now, I can see that the opening of the Irish Embassy in Georgia will even have a very specific impact on Ireland's stance in the Security Council. It will have first-hand information once it has an embassy in the country that is occupied and that is a problem from where the conflict is coming. It will also be very helpful from the perspective of relations between Georgia and Ireland. Again, it means absolutely easy access for Government officials. Rather than just listening to me, the Government will have its own source of information coming out.

The Embassy of Ireland that covers Georgia is in Sofia, Bulgaria. Members will not believe that, unfortunately, we do not even have direct flights to Sofia, although we hope we will. On the other hand, it also creates some obstacles for people-to-people relations because Georgians need visas to travel to Ireland. That is for any passport holders, including diplomatic passport holders. Some visits have been postponed or skipped due to that reason. It takes time and energy to send the passport to get the visa. It is, therefore, a huge obstacle to building relations.

Regardless of how well the Governments do at government level, we need to encourage people to travel for any reason, be it leisure, pleasure or business. We are trying now to encourage Irish businesses to travel to Georgia to see what possibilities it offers them. We can offer opportunities to extend their businesses not only in Georgia, because it is a small market, but from or with Georgia further into the region, to central Asian republics or neighbouring countries. Again, however, these obstacles exist. I hope that opening the Irish Embassy will be absolutely beneficial for both of us.