Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 305: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if information is available to him concerning the circumstances that led to the detention of 15 naval personnel in waters between Iran and Iraq; the territorial waters in which the incident took place and the purposes of the exercises involved; and such other factors as led him to adopt the position stated on behalf of the General Council of the European Union. [14052/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I warmly welcome yesterday's announcement by President Ahmadinejad of the release of the fifteen British sailors.

The Government, and our EU partners, strongly supported the intensive diplomatic efforts by the British Government to achieve the release of the naval personnel who were detained by the Iranian authorities on 23 March. They had been conducting an anti-smuggling naval patrol as members of the multinational force in Iraq, under the mandate reaffirmed most recently by UN Security Council Resolution 1723, which was adopted unanimously on 28 November 2006.