THE PRESS TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1988. Mr Haughey’s visit

Press, 19 July 1988, Page 12

THE PRESS TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1988. Mr Haughey’s visit

The visit of the Prime Minister of Ireland, Mr Charles Haughey, which ended last night, helped to establish a link with New Zealand that needed to be forged. His was the first visit to New Zealand by an Irish Head of Government, although Mr Eamon de Valera visited in 1948, the year before the final Constitutional link between Britain and Ireland was cut in 1949 and the Republic of Ireland was established. Mr Lange, the New Zealand Prime Minister, visited Ireland in 1986 and Mr Haughey’s is a return visit. He has just visited Australia as part of the bicentennial celebrations.

Ireland has been a major source of migrants for New Zealand and New Zealand’s culture is the richer for their presence. Mr Haughey is thoroughly aware of the connections between many New Zealanders and Ireland and expressed the hope that a large number would visit Ireland to look again at their roots. He sounded as if he were at home among many of the people he met in New Zealand. He also encouraged New Zealand firms to use Ireland as a base for their activities in Europe.

Despite the quite intimate migration connections, New Zealand has not pursued close relations with Ireland. Like so much of New Zealand’s history, this changed in 1973. It was on the first day of that year that Britain joined the European Community, along with Denmark and Ireland. Britain’s joining had the practical effects of forcing New Zealand to look elsewhere for markets for agricultural produce, as well as fighting to preserve what it could of the British market. It also had the psychological effect of making New Zealanders think of themselves as people rather more alone in the world than they had been previously.

Another important effect was that New Zealand had to take its relationship with other members of the European Community much more seriously than it had hitherto done. Ireland was a new member and New Zealand had to start thinking about Irish concerns and how Ireland’s vote would be used within the institutions of the E.C. on such questions as access for New Zealand butter. That period of New Zealand’s history forced a re-evaluation of the importance of a host of European countries to New Zealand, Ireland among them. The visit by Mr Haughey was a significant step in furthering the political relationship.

In international affairs Ireland has some similarities to New Zealand. It places great reliance on the United Nations. It has been a contributor to peace-keeping operations. It is

a small State and like New Zealand, has a small defence force. Unlike New Zealand it is a neutral country, the only neutral member of the European Community, many of whose members are also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It was a firm supporter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Mr Haughey, Mr Lange, and the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, have just put their names to a call to the South African Government to free Nelson Mandela and to recognise the African National Congress. The relationship between Britain and Ireland over Northern Ireland has been of concern to the New Zealand Government. It welcomed the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and supported the stands of both the British and Irish Government over that agreement. New Zealand became a small contributor to the International Fund for Ireland; its aim was to further the achievements of the AngloIrish Agreement. Ireland, like New Zealand, has been heavily dependent on agriculture and the interests of the two countries were bound to clash over marketing their produce. Ireland has generally been a strong opponent of New Zealand’s access to the E.C. for its agricultural produce. Apart from France, no other country has been such a strong opponent. The subsidies system in the E.C. has been of enormous benefit to Ireland’s farmers, who had generally been economically depressed. Mr Haughey seemed reasonably cheerful about New Zealand’s prospects in the E.C., but he is not the most reliable commentator on the subject. His optimism was based partly on the measures that Europe has taken to limit its own agricultural products and partly on the proposal to manage world agricultural production. The proposal to manage agricultural production is not one New Zealand has any reason to be enthusiastic about. New Zealand has consistently argued for freer trade in agricultural produce and the reduction of subsidies. Nevertheless, Mr Haughey said what he had to say with an air of good will. The conclusion may be drawn that Ireland adopts the point of view of the E.C. but is not taking a particular, antagonist atttitude towards New Zealand. Mr Haughey does not belong to the school of thought that holds New Zealand access should be cut completely. To him it is a question of the level of access. The good will generated by Mr Haughey’s visit should stand New Zealand in good stead over the next few months as the butter negotiations come to a climax.