H. E. Mr. Gints Apals:

I will do my best to answer the questions which have been asked, even though - as I must confess - I am not an expert on specific energy issues. I hope members will also excuse me for not being able to outline the exact position of my Government in respect of the digital tax. I will do my best to answer the other questions that were posed.

On the comment to the effect that some members of the Latvian community have an ambition to return home, this is currently an official policy of my Government. We have adopted an reintegration plan to facilitate and help those who would like to return to their country of origin to do so. At the same time, we realise that a significant part of the Latvian community here will remain in Ireland for a long time. In this context, we should simply learn from the Irish experience in terms of how we should work with our diaspora. We know there are very important forums are discussing this matter in Ireland at present. The Irish diaspora could be play a vital role with regard to the development of this country's economy in the future, even though its members may never return here to live. We should, therefore, consider encouraging broader co-operation and retaining contacts with members of our community in Ireland, even those who are going to remain here for a longer period than they initially expected. After all, those to whom I refer are all EU citizens and they enjoy the relevant economic, social and political rights. Many of them have already or will become Irish citizens. Even those who choose not to do so still have full access to the rights to which I refer because they are European citizens. Among those rights is that which allows them to vote in local and European elections.

Reference was made to the Eastern Partnership. In the context of Latvia's priorities for 2015 - when it will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU - specifically in the area of the common foreign and security policy, CFSP, our foreign minister has identified two major priorities. The first of these relates to the development and promotion of the Eastern Partnership and the second would involve closer relations with central Asian countries. On the Eastern Partnership, the summit in Vilnius will probably address the issue of Ukraine's association agreement. There will be another Eastern Partnership summit in 2015 and this will be hosted by Latvia. I will take the liberty of expressing a personal view at this point and state that we will have an opportunity to further develop the Eastern Partnership at that point.