Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason a Minister of the State at his Department failed to make representations to the Chinese Government in relation to the ongoing repression in Tibet during the course of their recent visit to China; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12683/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for European Affairs, Mr. Dick Roche TD, visited three cities in China, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, to represent the Government in the context of the recent annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

As is the norm for such St. Patrick's Day visits, the visit was not an official one but rather the primary focus was on reaching out to the growing Irish Diaspora in China, and the promotion of the objectives of the Government's Asia Strategy across a broad range of activities and sectors, including trade, investment, educational cooperation, culture, Irish food products and tourism. The visit was highly successful.

No official consultations with the Chinese Government took place during the visit. Minister of State Roche was guest of honour at the Embassy of Ireland's St. Patrick's Day reception on 14th March. The Minister had a courtesy meeting at the Embassy of Ireland, in the margins of the reception, with Chinese Assistant Minister Wu Hongbo. At that stage, the unfolding events in Tibet were unclear and reports were scarce and unreliable. In the absence of clear information, given the informal nature of the encounter, the issue of Tibet was not discussed on that occasion.

On my instructions, senior officials of my Department since 17 March have been in regular touch with the Chinese Embassy in Dublin to seek information about developments in Tibet and to convey my deep concern at the situation there. On Tuesday 1 April, I was happy to meet with representatives of the Tibet Support Group-Ireland and to discuss with them their concerns regarding the current situation, and how these might be addressed.