Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 600: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the recent decision by the Icelandic Government to permit the whaling of two species of whale; his views on the decision; if the Government has condemned the development; the action the Government intends to take; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35407/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland acceded to the Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1985, and has consistently supported the international moratorium on commercial whaling.

I am strongly opposed to Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling and Ireland has been working closely with other Governments to agree a text which will demonstrate a concerted degree of international opposition to this action. This text has now been agreed and a formal diplomatic protest is being made to the Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Fisheries in Reykjavik today. Ireland is participating in this demarche, with some 24 other countries and the European Commission, and I am arranging to make the text available in the Oireacthas Library.