Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am very happy to have the Deputy and his party colleagues share in the achievements of the Government in the area of foreign affairs. I have no difficulty in acknowledging that the agreement that Ireland should take the chair of the OSCE was made in 2009.

The contribution Ireland intends to make on the issue of conflict resolution is to draw on the experience of it in Northern Ireland. What we have in mind is holding a high level conference on 27 April which will be moderated by a former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, who was very much involved in the Northern Ireland peace process. The idea is to invite representatives of all 56 participating states, in particular the states in which there are protracted conflicts, and those who were involved in the Northern Ireland peace process to contribute to the discussion. The idea is not that the formula found in Northern Ireland is transportable to other conflicts but that people will hear about the patience and persistence which characterised the talks in the Irish peace process and, I hope, draw something from this.

Separately, we are working to progress discussions to resolve the protracted conflicts. In that context, the first meeting as part of the Transnistrian settlement process, the so-called 5+2 talks, will take place in Dublin next week, on 28 and 29 February.

On the human dimension, we are paying particular attention to the concept of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. We will concentrate, in particular, on Internet freedom, in regard to which there are a number of issues that require international discussion. It is our intention to hold a conference in Dublin in June which, again, will involve the 56 participating states and also many of the Internet companies which have their headquarters in Dublin.

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