Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I note what Deputy Kenny said about the position in Sudan. While I am not up to date with what happened at Monday's meeting of the General Affairs Council, I will probably receive a report during the week. The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, was dealing with the matter on Monday at the General Affairs Council and I will check what happened. I note what the Deputy said about trying to engage with the American Administration on the issue.

On Myanmar, the Deputy will be aware that we were prepared to open diplomatic relations last year in order to try to help in this regard. The Department of Foreign Affairs was strongly of the view that the only way to deal with the issue was to open diplomatic relations. However, this did not happen. The situation continues to be difficult. The leaders in that country are not listening to the international community. I referred earlier to the exchanges I had last year when I had to confront strongly the issue, but they retorted in a strong manner. They just do not listen. They take the view that what is happening is no one's business. The meeting took place last June and they continue to adopt this attitude. It is a very difficult position and I am not surprised that Condoleezza Rice has moved in this regard. While there are difficulties in other areas, it is an area on which the European Union and America can usefully engage. It and other issues will be discussed in the future. President Bush will meet with the European Council this month to address a number of these issues and to agree a common line on some of these matters, which perhaps did not happen during his first term of office. It will be useful to try to engage in these issues.

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