Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 284: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the assurances the Irish Government will give not to compromise in the treaty negotiations taking place at the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20590/08]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the USA, China and Russia did not attend the cluster bomb conference at Croke Park, Dublin. [20661/08]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 286: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the EU countries that use cluster bombs. [20662/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 284 to 286, inclusive, together.

The three States referred to in Deputy Mc Grath's question are among those which have decided not to take part in the Oslo Process because, as we understand it, they do not feel able to commit themselves to its objectives. Specifically, full participation in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference requires States to have endorsed the Declaration adopted at the preceding Wellington Conference in February 2008, which included a commitment to the objective of concluding at Dublin a legally binding instrument prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. On that basis, 110 States are present in Dublin as participants with another 18 attending as observers. Naturally, following the adoption of a Convention at Dublin and its envisaged signature in Oslo in December, we will do all we can to encourage as many States as possible to become party to it. Some 22 EU Member States are full participants in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference, while five are present as observers.

The last recorded use of cluster munitions by an EU Member State was by the UK in Iraq in 2003. Several Member States have never had cluster munitions. This is the case with Ireland. Some others have already decided never to use them and to destroy their stockpiles. One of the most complex issues under negotiation at the Conference is the precise definition of a cluster munition which causes unacceptable harm to civilians and, as such, will be banned under the Convention. Up to 17 Member States possess weapons which might conceivably fall within the eventual definition agreed upon, but this remains to be determined. All States which become party to the Convention will of course have to comply with its provisions, which it seems clear will include a prohibition on the acquisition or use of specified munitions and a requirement to destroy stockpiles.

Nationally, Ireland is, in line with the provisions of the Programme for Government, strongly pressing for the most ambitious outcome possible in the negotiations. Of course, as chair, and consistent with the Conference's rules of procedure, we have a particular responsibility to seek as broad a consensus as possible.