Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. The first is a procedural one. There are only two countries – ourselves and Bulgaria – that have not ratified. I am afraid it is invariably the case that the Oireachtas is always late being asked by line Departments. I have had that out with the Department of Justice consistently. In the Minister of State’s speech, he said he wants it done by summer. Better if it came earlier and we could have it done earlier, if that is the view, rather than assuming that we will rubber stamp everything at the last minute. That is my general defence of the Oireachtas point.

I wish to raise a few issues. Regarding Ireland’s footprint, Latin America and the Caribbean has never been a strong focus for Ireland. In recent years, there was a time when we only had two embassies in Latin America. A lot of the northern part of South America was serviced from Mexico. There was huge resentment about that when one visited these places. I am interested in hearing, from an Irish perspective, how the Minister of State sees the Irish footprint in Latin America being developed. The Caribbean is probably even more neglected. I am not sure we have an embassy in any Caribbean country. They are all served by mainland embassies. Our distinguished Uachtarán na hÉireann many years ago did a profile of the Caribbean’s emerald isle - I do not know if the Minister of State remembers that – linking the great heritage of, I think it was Montserrat, with Ireland not only because it is green but because of its enormous Irish heritage. I am interested in hearing how we are going to improve our footprint.

The Minister of State will not be surprised by my second question. The ratification of an institute like this is important and I do not think it is controversial. I think we will be able to do it without any difficulty at all. Probably more controversial would be the Mercosur agriculture agreement that is pending and referenced in the Minister of State’s speech. He might give us an update on where we are in terms of presenting that deal to the Houses of the Oireachtas.