Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I welcome the aforementioned action plan and the issues it addresses, including sustainable development, climate change, trade and various other matters. Obviously the Taoiseach did not meet the President of Bolivia at the summit or discuss the ongoing issue of the very unsatisfactory follow through by the Bolivian Government on the execution or murder of Michael Dwyer from County Tipperary a number of years ago. I know the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, recently met the Bolivian President and has been involved with the case. There is now a commitment, as I understand it, to an international, independent investigation. At the time of that execution there was much written in the media which was unfair to Michael Dwyer and his family. His mother has fought a very courageous campaign over quite a number of years. Did the Taoiseach have any contact with the Bolivian Government on this issue? The obfuscation and the stonewalling nature of its response over the years is extremely unsatisfactory. The prosecution case never really hung together and has now fallen apart completely. Essentially Mr. Dwyer was executed in a hotel bedroom by Government forces which raises issues for us, diplomatically, in terms of our relationship with the Bolivian Government, at least until the issue is resolved to some degree. When I say resolved, I mean that some level of disclosure and honesty is required of the Bolivian Government in the context of what happened.

I ask the Taoiseach to indicate if he had any briefings on the Cuban situation, particularly the moves by President Obama to change the relationship between the United States and Cuba, and whether that has been reflected on the EU front, in terms of changing the paradigm. I believe I was the first Minister for Foreign Affairs to visit Cuba some years ago, following prompting by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister at the time-----

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