Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I would like to remind him, in response to his comments about the export of arms, that a number of measures were agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in August 2013. The measures in question, which relate to the violent suppression of the protests mentioned by Deputy Boyd Barrett, have since been implemented. I will explain what they involved. The EU decided to suspend military co-operation with Egypt and to deny export licences for any goods - including arms, obviously - that could be used in the violent suppression of democratic assembly, which is a fundamental human right. These EU measures are still in force. They will not be lifted until the EU's concerns have been dealt with. Reference has been made to the forthcoming elections in Egypt, which are vital if many of the difficulties in that country are to be dealt with. The EU will have a full-scale monitoring mission in place for the duration of the elections to ensure they are fair, peaceful and carried out in accordance with law. I want to emphasise again that our worries in this regard were articulated and communicated by the EU on Monday of this week.

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