IRELAND QUESTIONS NEED FOR NAME CHANGE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 000371 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/PGI HEATHER TSAVARIS AND FOR AIAG DAN SINGER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2015 TAGS: KFLU PREL PGOV EI SUBJECT: IRELAND QUESTIONS NEED FOR NAME CHANGE OF EU-HOSTED AVIAN FLU MEETING REF: STATE 52705 Classified By: Political-Economic Counselor Mary E. Daly; Reasons 1.4 ( B) and (D). ¶1. (C) On April 4, Post delivered reftel demarche to Teresa Cody, Department of Health and Children Assistant Principal Officer for Primary Health Care (Post's primary POC on AI), who responded on April 7 that Ireland would attend an EU Friends of the Presidency meeting in Brussels on April 11 that would address reftel's concerns about the Vienna avian flu conference in June. Cody confided that Ireland saw no need to change the name of the conference and that the GOI was unclear about the EU Presidency's approach to the issue. The Friends of the EU Presidency meeting, she added, would attempt to ensure that the Presidency did not work in isolation from the Member States on the structure of the conference. ¶2. (C) Also on April 7, Post discussed reftel points with Gearoid McNamara, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) First Secretary for EU Common Policy, who welcomed USG willingness SIPDIS to expand the IPAPI core group. McNamara explained that friction over the Vienna Conference stemmed in part from uncertainty as to whether the UK had joined the core group in 2005 as an individual country or in its capacity as EU President. Inclusion of the EU Presidency and/or Commission in the core group, he believed, might help to resolve reftel's concerns. Echoing Cody, he questioned the need to change the name of the conference, noting that such superficial issues should not interfere with international cooperation on avian flu. ¶3. (U) Comment: Irish agencies dealing with AI are on high alert after the April 6 confirmation of the H5N1 virus in a dead swan in Scotland and after the discovery of six dead birds in Northern Ireland the same day. Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan publicly noted that she would confer with GOI experts and UK veterinary officials on any possible Government measures to be taken as a result of the Scottish case. KENNY