Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 458: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline official practice relating to the laying of international agreements to which the State becomes a party before Dáil Éireann in compliance with Article 29.5.1° of the Constitution; if all treaties, within the meaning of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, together with all amendments, variations and repeals thereto, are classified as international agreements for the purposes of the article and are required to be so laid; if any secret or unpublished international agreements are in existence, whether described as such or as protocols, declarations, exchanges of notes, agreed minutes, memorandums of agreement or of understanding or the like, the terms of which are accepted as binding on the State in its relations with other states but which have not been laid before Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1409/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Article 29.5.1° of the Constitution requires that every international agreement to which the State becomes a party shall be laid before Dáil Éireann. In accordance with this requirement it has long been the practice of my Department to arrange for copies of each international agreement, including any extension, prolongation or amendment of an international agreement, to be sent to the Clerk of the Dáil for presentation to the House after it has entered into force with respect to the State. Article 29.5.1° has been interpreted by successive Ministers for Foreign Affairs as requiring the laying before Dáil Éireann of agreements concluded in writing that create binding obligations upon the State in international law, however constituted, for example in one or more instruments, such as an exchange of notes, or entitled, for instance "convention", "treaty", "exchange of letters" etc. While the requirements of Article 29.5.1o do not apply to agreements of a technical or administrative character, which are exempted under Article 29.5.3o, it is the practice for these to be laid before Dáil Éireann also.

In addition to the laying of international agreements before Dáil Éireann under Article 29.5.1o, for the convenience of the public, the practice has been that such international agreements have also been published in the Irish Treaty Series by my Department. Treaties published in the Irish Treaty Series, which at present may be purchased from Government Publications, will shortly be made available on the Department's website.

Article 102, paragraph 1, of the Charter of the United Nations provides that "(e)very treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it." One of the purposes of this provision and a similar provision of the Covenant of the League of Nations is to prevent the conclusion of secret treaties and agreements. All international agreements to which the State becomes a party are registered with the United Nations in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter and published in the United Nations Treaty Series. The State is not a party to any secret international agreements.