Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the Government's position on the current negotiations for the future of Internet governance and the existence of ICANN; if he will be attending the world summit on the information society in Tunis in November 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34353/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Internet governance is one of the main issues that is scheduled to be discussed at the forthcoming world summit on the information society, WSIS, in Tunis. At the first world summit in Geneva, in December 2003, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan requested that a working group be set up to look at Internet governance. While the working group published its report in July 2005, there remain a number of outstanding issues that need to be addressed. These issues were further discussed in a preparatory conference in Geneva that ended on Friday, 30 September.

As there is no agreed position across the United Nations on Internet governance, a short pre-summit meeting immediately prior to the summit is scheduled in the hope that there will be an agreed position that can be endorsed by the summit. I will be represented at the conference by the Secretary General of my Department.