Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has put forward any particular proposals at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on the need to resume the EU-Iran human rights dialogue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31992/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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While the main focus in recent years has been on the critical nuclear issue, Ireland and our EU partners have continued to highlight our concerns at human rights issues in Iran, and we will continue to do so. The possibility of resuming a direct discussion with Iran on this important area would be very welcome.The new Iranian government which took office last year has made a number of statements of an intention to improve protection of human rights. This has included the suggestion to some EU interlocutors, including my predecessor Deputy Gilmore, that Iran might be interested in reopening the EU/Iran Human Rights Dialogue, which it effectively ended in 2004. The then Tánaiste and Minister warmly encouraged this idea, and advised our EU partners of the exchange. EU Foreign Ministers have generally welcomed and been open to this idea. For the moment, however, Iran has not taken the proposal any further. It may well be that with the Iranian authorities fully engaged just now in very sensitive and difficult negotiations on the nuclear issue, they are not yet ready to take up this issue.

Like the nuclear issue, the resumption of the dialogue would be a sensitive issue in Iran, and powerful elements within the regime may well oppose the government on it. We must therefore leave it to the Iranian government to decide when the time is right to actively proceed on this matter. Until then it is also not clear, therefore, if Iran would attach any conditions to such a resumption of the dialogue, which might be difficult to accept on our part.