Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The sanctions were introduced in order to encourage Iran to participate in the talks on the nuclear issue. Participation in the talks is not just about being physically present at the talks but it is also about being fully engaged. Progress is being made. High Representative, Catherine Ashton, has briefed the Foreign Affairs Council on a number of occasions on her discussions and I want to express my support for the work she is doing.

Sanctions hurt not just the country against which they are targeted but they also hurt the countries applying them. I would like to see a situation where the sanctions can be lifted and where trade with Iran is normalised and grows again. The Deputy is right that is one of the contexts in which we will, in the future, consider the possibility of reopening a resident mission in Teheran and I hope we will be in a position to do that. As everybody knows, we had to cut our cloth to suit our measure in the past number of years as a result of the economic recession but now that we are coming out of the economic recession, it may be possible to consider the position of a mission in Teheran again.

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