Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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343. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an itemised list of all international treaties and conventions which the State or plenipotentiary thereto has signed, but not ratified, in tabular form; the date, title and purpose of the agreement in each case; the date the agreement was reached; the date the agreement was opened to signatories; the date the State signed the agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36359/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As requested, I am providing the Deputy with an itemised list of all international treaties and conventions which the State has signed, but not ratified, in tabular form. The list has been prepared according to the information available to my Department and aims to be as comprehensive as possible. The purpose of the agreements is indicated by the title in most cases and further information is either publicly available or can be made available by my Department should it be required.

There are 74 agreements on the list:

- 17 Multilateral agreements for which the UN Secretary-General is the depository;

- 19 Council of Europe agreements;

- 23 EU agreements;

- 8 Other multilateral agreements; and

- 7 Bilateral agreements.

The two-step process whereby a state will first sign an international agreement subject to ratification or some other form of approval, such as an exchange of notes informing of completion of the necessary internal procedures, is the usual manner in which international agreements are concluded. This interval permits states to take whatever legislative or administrative measures are required to fulfil obligations assumed under the agreement. The signing of an agreement may be an important demonstration of a state’s support for it, pending its ratification when in a position to do so. Whilst a state is not bound by an agreement which it has signed but not ratified, it is obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat its object and purpose. The alternative would be to refrain from signing the agreement at all, which may be interpreted as a lack of support for the agreement. In this regard, there is nothing unusual, or wrong in principle, in having some time period between signature and ratification, and the length of time required may depend on the complexities of the particular issues involved.

As the Deputy will be aware, Article 29.6 of the Constitution provides that international agreements do not form part of the domestic law of the State unless the Oireachtas so provides through the enactment of legislation. This is what is known as a “dualist” approach to international agreements. In contrast, for some states, ratification of an international agreement automatically incorporates the terms of that agreement into its domestic law. Such states may be in a position to ratify agreements more quickly than dualist states such as Ireland. As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I have an important role in relation to all international agreements entered into by Ireland. Before a treaty may be signed, ratified or acceded to, it is necessary to obtain an authorising Government Decision. As the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 designates the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade as the Minister responsible for external relations, all Memoranda for the Government concerning international agreements (other than International Labour Organisation Conventions) are brought by me, irrespective of their substantive content. Where the agreement is the functional responsibility of another Department, as is usually the case, the Memorandum is brought by me on behalf of the relevant Minister.

Therefore, while my Department has a central role in relation to signing and ratifying international agreements, it is often the case that the necessary legislative or administrative measures required to implement them are for the line Department responsible for the subject matter of the agreement. Line Departments, in taking steps to ratify an agreement, will consult with my Department as the ratification process develops to ensure that important procedural steps are followed.

My Department lays all international agreements before this House after they enter into force for Ireland and annually publishes all such agreements in the Irish Treaty Series, which is available on the Department’s website. A notice of all agreements laid before the Dáil is also published in Iris Oifigiúil. In addition, a list of the international agreements which have been signed but not ratified by Ireland is published on the Department’s website and updated annually.

List of International Agreements signed by Ireland, but not Ratified

[1] Multilateral Treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations

[2] Council of Europe Treaties

[3] EU Agreements

[4] Other Multilateral Agreements

[5] Bilateral Agreements