US embassy cable - 05DUBLIN77

UNCLAS DUBLIN 000077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM 
SUBJECT: IRISH RESPONSE TO SA/LW MARKING AND TRACING 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: STATE 9788 
 
1.  On January 21, Post delivered reftel talking points to 
Adrian McDaid, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Counselor 
for Disarmament and Non-proliferation and Ireland's 
representative at the January 24-February 4 UN Small Arms and 
Light Weapons (SA/LW) negotiation session.  McDaid said that 
the Irish view was consistent with the EU position that the 
proposed international instrument on the marking and tracing 
of SA/LW should be legally (versus politically) binding.  He 
noted that the EU position reflected the majority view of 
participating countries in the first UN negotiating session 
on the proposed instrument in June 2004.  This majority view 
was based on the belief that the instrument would be more 
effective if it had legal force.  McDaid disagreed with 
reftel talking point that the draft instrument was 
commensurate with a legally binding agreement, noting that 
Ambassador Thalman's text had not prejudged the issue.  He 
added that both the EU and Ireland believed that to debate at 
the outset of next week's negotiation whether the instrument 
should be politically or legally binding would consume too 
much time.  The better option, McDaid suggested, would be to 
focus first on the substance of the draft instrument, with a 
view to producing a second draft by the end of the first week 
of the negotiations.  The EU troika, he observed, planned to 
meet with U.S. representatives at that time, and Ambassador 
Thalman also planned to set aside a half-day to discuss the 
nature of the instrument. 
 
2.  Ireland likewise supported the EU position that the 
proposed instrument should cover ammunition, noted McDaid. 
He said that there had been a fairly strong level of support 
for this position among the EU Member States during the June 
2004 negotiating session.  He added that most African 
countries also subscribed to this position, which was based 
on the view that the instrument was the best international 
tool on offer to address ammunition as a segment of the SA/LW 
issue.  McDaid pointed out that Germany had taken the lead 
among the EU Member States to approach skeptical countries 
like the United States on the merits of including ammunition 
in the instrument. 
BENTON