Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. There are five envoys, as an additional one was appointed, and our remit is to represent the Secretary General in capitals of the world. A huge amount of work will continue in the General Assembly, the President of which, Jean Ping, has appointed a number of facilitators and permanent representatives to deal with issues at UN-level on the ground in New York. The General Assembly, based in clusters, will go through the Secretary General's recommendations line by line this month.

It is the view of the President of the General Assembly, together with the Secretary General, Kofi Annan, that there must be direct, one-to-one discussion in the capitals. We are to engage and promote the package, liaise with the Secretary General's people on an ongoing basis and, ultimately, be utilised in the anticipated event of blockages with regard to certain international issues. It is a very broad remit. The appointment of the Latvian vice-president as an additional envoy will ease the burden for the four original envoys. My geographic remit is Europe, though it is envisaged that I will be used in other parts of the world also.

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