Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if and when the Government will recognise an independent Kosovo; if he has plans to work towards a work permit system here for Kosovars in an effort to alleviate the dangerous level of unemployment there; if the Government will consider offering much-needed support to Kosovar agriculture and education; if he will take action at EU level in an effort to ensure that Kosovars travelling on Serbian passports will not be repatriated under the Stability and Associations Agreement between Serbia and the EU; and if he will lobby for visa facilitation for Kosovars like that accorded to Serbs under the agreement. [31733/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The difficult and sensitive issue of Kosovo's future status is the legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The framework for post-conflict Kosovo was set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999, which established an interim United Nations civilian administration (UNMIK), and authorised an international security presence (KFOR). The Resolution also provided for a gradual transfer of competences from the UNMIK mission to provisional institutions of self-government.

Together with our EU partners, Ireland has consistently expressed strong support for the work of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari. In March of this year, Special Envoy Ahtisaari submitted a Comprehensive Proposal to the UN Secretary General. He recommended that Kosovo's status should be independence, supervised by the international community. A key element of the proposed settlement would be a continuing international civilian and military presence in Kosovo, with the KFOR military force remaining and a new civilian ESDP Mission.

Ireland welcomed this proposal, as providing the most practical basis for a settlement of the Kosovo issue. Regrettably, intensive efforts within the UN Security Council to agree on a new Resolution on the basis of Ahtisaari were not successful, and on 1 August, the Secretary General announced that a further four months of talks between the two sides would be facilitated by an international Troika. No agreement has yet been found, and the Troika is due to report to the UN Secretary General on the outcome of these talks on 10 December.

As regards the part of the Deputy's question which raises the issue of Irish economic and social support for Kosovars, Ireland, together with our partners in the European Union and the international community, already plays its part in fostering socio-economic development in Kosovo. Ireland has committed over €1.1 million to Kosovo in the period from 2006 to 2008. These funds have been directed towards agriculture and rural development, support for young people and vulnerable sections of the community, livelihood and enterprise development and renovation of educational facilities.

While negotiations have been completed on the text of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU, the EU Member States and Serbia, no date has yet been set for signature of the agreement. Signature will be subject to the approval of all the EU Member States and will depend on Serbia's full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Article 135 of the SAA provides that the Agreement shall not apply to Kosovo, this being without prejudice to the current status of Kosovo or the determination of its final status.

While we will face a more complex and uncertain political and legal environment in the event that there is no agreement on final status for Kosovo, we very much hope to be in a position to maintain our presence in KFOR, to consider contributing members of the Garda to an ESDP Mission and also to continue to support the future economic development of Kosovo.