Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 10: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether the United States Government's continuing economic, commercial, and financial embargo on Cuba is undermining key civil and political rights of the Cuban people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32293/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As I have indicated to the House on a number of occasions, Ireland's position on the United States' trade embargo of Cuba is long standing and well known. The European Union has clearly expressed the opposition of its member states to all unilateral measures against Cuba which are contrary to commonly accepted rules of international trade. Ireland, in common with our partners in the European Union, is of the view that the US economic embargo on Cuba seriously hampers the economic development of Cuba and negatively affects its entire people.

Accordingly Ireland, and other EU member states, supports an annual draft resolution on the "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" at the UN General Assembly. This resolution, adopted most recently on 25 October 2011, is introduced by Cuba and rejects the extraterritorial effects of the US embargo. We and our EU partners are not persuaded that the continued embargo on Cuba is contributing in a positive way to the democratic transition in Cuba. This position has been expressed on many occasions in contacts with the United States.

Cuba remains an important domestic political issue in the United States, involving the views of many displaced Cubans who have taken refuge there. I am aware that opinions in the US on this issue are divided. However, this is fundamentally a bilateral issue which will have to be worked out within the United States itself.

EU-Cuba cooperation operates in a number of fields such as food security, climate change and the environment, a political dialogue with an emphasis on human rights has been instituted, and we are currently examining how the EU might deepen the bilateral relationship further.