UN owes State £8m for peacekeeping

The United Nations owed Ireland £8.1 million for peacekeeping services, but the payment position was "getting slightly better," the Dail Committee of Public Accounts was told.

The secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Padraic Mac Kernan, said £6.3 million was owed in respect of the Defence Forces' role in UNIFIL, the "interim" peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Payment had improved slightly, he added, and there was hope "that one of the big `sinners', the US, would "put its house in order". The American arrears arose because "the UN has been taken hostage by Congress for ideological reasons," he added.

Accepting a suggestion by the committee chairman, Mr Jim Mitchell, Mr Mac Kernan agreed that the Department would undertake a cost-benefit analysis of permanent representation abroad, to be completed within six months.

Mr Mitchell believed Ireland's relative paucity of representation overseas was "working against us". Comparisons with states such as Norway and Denmark would be interesting, he said.

However, in reply to questions from Mr Mitchell and Mr Bernard Durkan (FG), Mr Mac Kernan said he did not accept that diplomatic representation in Libya would necessarily help end that country's ban on Irish beef.

He agreed with Mr Pat Rabbitte (Lab) that there was a strong case for a consulate general in Toronto, Canada's main financial centre and a city of strong Irish links. Mr Rabbitte claimed there was "a certain resentment in Canada at the level of attention we lavish south of the border."

Mr Mac Kernan said the Department had "long wondered" about establishing permanent representation in the city.