Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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24. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will make representations to his UK counterpart in regard to the need for the British Government to return sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and to allow exiled Chagossians to return to their homes in view of the International Court of Justice, ICJ, hearings on the matter in September 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40266/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 22 June 2017, the UN General Assembly voted on a Resolution put forward by Mauritius to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, prior to Mauritian independence from the UK. Public hearings on this matter commenced before the ICJ at The Hague in early September where twenty-two States and the African Union presented oral statements to the Court in relation to the future status of the Chagos Islands.

Ahead of the June 2017 vote, Ireland gave considerable attention to the Resolution put before the UN General Assembly, weighing up the various points of view having listened carefully to the arguments put forward.

After very careful review, we felt that the most appropriate step to take was abstention, given the arguments from one side that this was an improper attempt to bring a bilateral dispute before the ICJ and from the other that there are matters of general relevance to the international community relating to de-colonisation. An abstention is consistent with the position Ireland has taken on previous ICJ referral resolutions.

The vote on this resolution was 95 in favour, 15 against, with 65 abstentions.

It is now for the ICJ to consider the merits of the arguments put before it and I do not, therefore, intend to make any representations.