Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views that in view of this country's experience in the resolution of conflict in the island of Ireland, the Irish Government could assist the Government of Sri Lanka in conflict resolution in its own peace process, therefore preventing a slide towards full civil war; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29768/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka. Ireland, together with our partners in the EU, takes a close interest in developments in Sri Lanka, and in the peace process in particular and regrets the fact that neither party appears willing to engage in meaningful negotiations. We continue to take the firm view that there can be no military solution and that the only way to a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka is a rapid return to comprehensive talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to resolve outstanding differences. Ireland remains firmly committed to assisting the Norwegian facilitator in his work in this regard.

The EU continues to play an active role as one of the four Co-Chairs of the 2003 Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka. At their last meeting in June 2007 the Co-Chairs expressed their concern about the conflict and said that there can be no justification for the use of military means. An important part of the work of my Department's new Conflict Resolution Unit will be drawing together the lessons of the Northern Ireland peace process in a way which will make it possible to share them in a useful fashion. While of course all conflicts have their own specific character, there may be lessons from Northern Ireland that could be useful to the parties in Sri Lanka in re-engaging in their peace process. I recall that over the last few years there have been a number of visits, including by Mr. John Hume and Mr. Martin McGuinness, aimed at sharing experiences. The Government would of course be willing to offer advice if sought by relevant parties but there currently appears little scope to do so in light of the negative situation there.