Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 7, inclusive, together.

On foot of an official invitation by the President of the European Council, Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, and by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Tusk, I attended the Eastern Partnership Summit in Warsaw on Thursday and Friday, 29 and 30 September. The Eastern Partnership initiative aims to enhance economic and political relations between the European Union and six neighbouring partners to the east - Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Belarus. On Thursday evening I attended a working dinner for the heads of delegations where we discussed the future prospects for relations between the EU and its eastern partners.

I participated in the plenary session on Friday morning, intervening in the discussions on economic integration and trade. I welcomed the fact that the Eastern Partnership is preparing for new association agreements between the EU and the six eastern partners. Deeper engagement and gradual integration in the EU economy will require a high degree of commitment to complex and broad-ranging reforms from our eastern partners, and we appreciate that this presents them with enormous challenges.

I also used the opportunity to outline Ireland's approach to its upcoming chairmanship in the office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which starts in January 2012.

On the margins of the summit I met a number of my counterparts from the European Union. I had bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Chancellor Faymann of Austria and Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen of Finland. I also spoke informally with several other EU leaders. Our discussions focused on financial stability in the eurozone and prospects for economic growth. I briefed them on the decisive action that the Government was taking to address our financial and economic situation and the progress being made to deliver in full and on time on the commitments set out in Ireland's EU-IMF programme.

I also had bilateral meetings with certain eastern partner countries. I met President Yanukovych of the Ukraine, Prime Minister Vlad Filat of Moldova and President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia. I referred to Ireland having declared its candidature for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council and said we would be very grateful for support from our eastern partners in securing this position. We discussed regional issues, including the progress made in the Geneva talks relating to the territorial integrity of Georgia. I said Ireland would be nominating a special representative to the southern Caucasus for the duration of our chairmanship of the OSCE who would participate in the Geneva talks. We also discussed the regional issue of Transnistria and I gave assurances that Ireland would pay close attention to this issue during our OSCE chairmanship.

Following the summit I attended an Irish business community reception at the Irish Embassy to demonstrate my strong support for the Irish business community in Poland and to emphasise the shared objective of restoring a strong and sustainable economy to Ireland.

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