Written answers

Tuesday, 16 April 2019

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Foreign Policy

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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80. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the escalating anti-Cuban rhetoric of President Trump including his latest threat to establish lawsuits against Cuban companies under Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996, known as the Helms-Burton Act; if his attention has been further drawn to the damage this could pose to the continuity of co-operation that Ireland and other countries share with Cuba; the representations which have been made to the United States of America regarding the hardening of the blockade against Cuba in recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17478/19]

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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88. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether the US Helms-Burton laws regarding Cuba are unjust; if he will push for the implementation of the EU-Cuba dialogue to counter growing aggression by the United States of America under the current administration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17592/19]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 88 together.

The 1996 Helms Burton Act is a US federal law which reinforces the US's long standing economic embargo against Cuba.

Since 1996, European persons or entities have remained potentially affected by the extraterritorial elements in Titles III and IV of the Act, but a 1998 Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and US has waived Title III every six months and, as a result, European persons and entities have been protected from the relevant provisions of the Act.

On 16 January 2019, the US State Department announced that the next waiver, effective from 1 February 2019, would have a duration of 45 days only, the first time since the Act’s promulgation that the US has not waived Title III for six months. On 3 April, the State Department announced it would suspend application of Title III for a further two weeks.

This development has been noted by Ireland and our EU partners. The Helms-Burton Act has been discussed on several occasions at the EU Council Working Party on Transatlantic Relations (COTRA) at which Ireland has been represented at official level. My officials are in close contact with the EU Commission on this matter and are monitoring the situation closely.

This issue has also been raised in contacts between officials from my Department and the Ambassador of Cuba to Ireland. Officials have reiterated Ireland’s longstanding position on the US embargo against Cuba, which I have also expressed publicly on a number of occasions. Ireland believes that the embargo serves no constructive purpose and that the lifting of the embargo would facilitate an opening of the island’s economy to the benefit of its people. In addition, we and our EU partners are not persuaded that the continued embargo is contributing in a positive way to the democratic transition in Cuba.

Together with our EU partners, Ireland has firmly and continuously opposed extraterritorial measures that seek to extend the US embargo against Cuba to third countries as contrary to commonly accepted rules of international trade. Our position in this regard was set out most recently at the UN General Assembly on 1 November last year in the context of the resolution on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the US against Cuba.

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