Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

If it is of value to Deputy Higgins, I can give what might have been my reply to amendment No. 1. The amendment proposed by the Labour Party relates to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and was disallowed on Committee Stage for being outside the scope of the Bill. The Bill relates solely to the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular relations. As I stated on Committee Stage the Government proposes to accede to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and my Department continues to work toward achieving this. An Act of the Oireachtas may not be necessary for Ireland to accede to the convention. It would be inappropriate to use the current Bill for the purposes proposed by this amendment.

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