IRELAND TO SEND DFA DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR EU

UNCLAS DUBLIN 000487 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG EPET ECON PREL NL EU EI SUBJECT: IRELAND TO SEND DFA DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR EU AFFAIRS TO TRANSATLANTIC ENERGY SECURITY CONFERENCE REF: STATE 63866 Ireland intends to send Dan Mulhall, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Director General for EU Affairs, to the May 18 Transatlantic Energy Security Conference at The Hague, the DFA told Post on May 3 after more than a week of regular contact on reftel demarche. In discussions with DFA Political Director Rory Montgomery, the DCM had pressed for Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern's participation in the conference, a request that econoff had also conveyed at the Assistant Secretary level of the DFA's Bilateral Economic Relations Division and the EU Affairs Division. Post's consultations with the DFA were coordinated with the Dutch DCM. Our DFA interlocutors, however, observed that prior commitments would preclude attendance by Foreign Minister Ahern, DFA Secretary General Dermot Gallagher, and Political Director Montgomery. After receiving DFA's notification about Mulhall on May 3, DCM again contacted the office of the Foreign Minister, who, the DCM was told, would most definitely be out of the country at the time of the conference. KENNY