The Government has rejected claims it was pushed by large EU member-states into supporting the controversial measures taken against Austria as a result of the entry of the Freedom Party into the new coalition government.
According to a Government spokesman, Ireland decided to sign up to the measures being taken by 14 EU member-states against Austria without coming under any pressure to do so.
Last weekend the new Austrian Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schussel, claimed that a few states had orchestrated the action against Austria and put pressure on others to follow suit. Austrian press reports have named Ireland as one of those on which there was alleged pressure. The Government spokesman rejected this and outlined the reasons for Ireland's decision to go along with the other 13. "The EU is a community that shares certain values," the spokesman said. "Governments are expected to share them and it would have been remiss of the 14 if they didn't set out their shared position."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, criticised the manner in which the decision was taken, and suggested this favoured larger states which wanted to put pressure on smaller members.
"The process of taking a decision over the phone tends to work in favour of a club of big states deciding on a line and then isolating the smaller ones." The decision should have been taken at a full Council of Ministers' meeting where the Austrians could have given their view.
He also said the decision itself could be counter-productive. "Isolation and exclusion will fuel support for Haider. People in Austria will see him as some sort of underdog, and it is not helpful to give him this propaganda advantage," he said.
The Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said yesterday he ag reed with the Government's decision to sign up for the measures against Austria, and suggested they could have gone further.
"There is a need to demonstrate very clearly that the attitude and policies of the Freedom Party are unacceptable. They define nationality in Germanic terms, saying that if you are not Germanic you are not Austrian.
"They say there is no basis for Austria accepting immigrants from anywhere. They argue for reaching back into the past to build Austria's future on tradition. They are in government with policies anathema to the principles of the European Union. It would be a mistake to define them as a Nazi party because they are not, but they are an extreme right party," he went on.
EU states would have to examine what they were doing which helped these attitudes to grow.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, agreed to sign up to the measures on January 30th last, when the Portuguese Prime Minister, Mr Antonio Guterres, contacted him. The following day, a joint statement was issued by 14 of the 15 EU member-states announcing that their bilateral relations with Austria would be restricted.
The statement said: "Governments of 14 member-states will not promote or accept any bilateral official contacts at political level with an Austrian government integrating the FPO [Freedom Party]; there will be no sup port in favour of Austrian candidates seeking positions in inter national organisations; Austrian ambassadors in EU capitals will only be received at a technical level."
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, is attending an informal meeting of EU social affairs ministers in Portugal today and tomorrow, also attended by the Austrian Minister, Ms Elisabeth Sickl of the Freedom Party.
A spokesman for the Austrian embassy said yesterday he noted a comment from an Irish official, reported in a newspaper last weekend, that the State would take a cautious approach to the issue. "We cannot really measure that at the moment," he said.
The measures taken against Austria appear to have had no practical effect on its relations with Ireland so far. No ministerial visits had been planned before the announcement of the 14; there are no Austrians seeking Irish support for appointment to international posts; and Ireland's Ambassador in Austria has not been invited to participate in any meeting or function covered by the measures.