International Agreements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. As I understand it, the Government is not ruling out, but is still giving active consideration to, acceding to the core treaty itself. I am conscious that signing up to international agreements puts a requirement on the State to have the resources in place to honour such agreements and to resource staffing to meet the requirements of meetings and so on. However, this is important for Ireland. As I said in my opening statement, it is critically important that Ireland plays an active role in international biodiversity and the protection of this unique continent, particularly where there are designs on territorial areas by other countries. While I welcome the response, I urge the Government to continue to give active consideration to, at the very least, signing up to the core treaty and thereafter, to look at its international agreements through the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement, to give full effect to them and to support and resource Ireland's full participation in the Antarctic Treaty.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:37+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12