THERE are still technical difficulties on the Irish and Iranian sides preventing the reopening of the beef trade, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Dr Hassan Rohani, told a Dail Committee meeting yesterday.
Dr Rohani, who is leading a delegation of senior officials to Ireland, told the Joint Committee 9n Foreign Affairs and the Joint Committee on European Affairs that trade will resume when these matters are resolved.
"Also, our people are very fearful about Mad Cow Disease and their apprehension increased when they saw a film on TV," he said.
"Our veterinary people will have to find a way to convince our people that beef is safe," he said.
We heard there are some proposals that we put to the (Irish) Government that are acceptable. But your Minister for Agriculture said today there are some proposals that will have to be discussed further," he added.
He said that if the technical matters are resolved, "then generally we support trade with Ireland".
Members of the joint committees had hoped to question the delegation in depth about their problems with Irish beef but the discussion was widened by Deputy Alan Shatter (FG), Dublin South.
He asked Dr Rohani if he believed Israel had a right to exist at all, why his country opposed the Middle East peace plan and if it would continue to support Hamas, which had disrupted the plan with bombings.
He also wanted to know if Iran had developed a nuclear capacity using Russian scientists and when his country would end human rights violations.
Dr Rohani said his government had never trusted a country which denied rights to the Palestinian people and showed no respect for international treaties or regulations, not even those of the UN.
Iran did not give any financial or military support to Hamas or Islamic Jihad and said the largest contributions to these groups came from the US, European countries and Saudi Arabia.
He added that Israel had nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, unlike Iran and these were a serious danger to the region. Iran's human rights record compared very favourably with all other countries in the region.