Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has put the issue very well. As I have said, the result of the UN summit and the review conference on NPT was nothing short of a disgrace and I said as much in my statement on behalf of Ireland at that time. It was, and is, hypocritical for the larger powers, that already have nuclear arms, to put a strong emphasis on non-proliferation when in fact, the NPT is also a disarmament treaty and should be seen as such.

There are two sides to this argument and that is why I welcomed what Mr. Kofi Annan said at the end of the UN Summit, in his initial words, where he said that it was "a disgrace" on the international community. I have pledged that Ireland, as one of the authors of the NPT, will assist in whatever way it can. Unfortunately, we are in a world that is even more dangerous now than it was during the post-war era when the NPT was put in place. There are also a number of countries, some of which are in the Middle East, that are not party to the NPT. At least Iran is party to NPT. The important thing now is to keep Iran within that system so that we can use the instruments available to the international community in this respect.

While it is correct to say that the comment on Israel is a separate issue and should be condemned separately, all of this is interlinked. It is linked with the ongoing conflict in Palestine and Israel.

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