Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

The 45 participating countries of the nuclear suppliers group, NSG, including Ireland, have agreed guidelines governing the export of items that are specially designed or prepared for nuclear use and for nuclear related dual-use items and technologies. Under these guidelines the export of such items to India is prohibited. The US-India agreement on civil nuclear co-operation was reached on 2 March 2006 between President Bush and Prime Minister Singh during the former's visit to India. Under the agreement, India has agreed, inter alia, to identify and separate civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes and to file a declaration regarding its civilian facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. India has agreed to classify 14 of its 22 nuclear power reactors as civilian facilities and voluntarily to place these under IAEA safeguards.

We are currently analysing the details of the agreement both within the European Union and bilaterally with like-minded countries. The agreement is a complex one on which we have yet to reach a final considered judgment. We wish to assess carefully all its elements and all its wider implications. Within the NSG, in particular, it will be important for Ireland to act in concert with like-minded partners.

There have been expressions of support from some countries and the Director General of the IAEA, Dr. El Baradei, has also welcomed the deal.

We have genuine concerns about what is envisaged. For Ireland, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, NPT, remains the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation regime. The treaty is the most universal of all the international instruments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation and we will continue to press for the universalisation of the NPT and for India's accession to it without conditions. In official level discussion, we have been active in raising many of the difficult questions to which the agreement gives rise.

Before the US-India agreement can be implemented, the US Congress will have to approve an amendment to US law. The Bush Administration has recently submitted such a proposal and hearings in Congress on the matter are under way. The hearings in the House of Representatives and the Senate will provide further opportunity for additional clarification which will assist our analysis. It would be preferable to await the outcome of deliberations in the US Congress before taking a final decision within the NSG. Moreover, the approaches taken by a range of key international partners will also be crucial in determining the NSG's course of action.

The US-India agreement certainly adds a further complication of discussion on the Iranian nuclear programme. At the same time, the two situations are distinct. Iran is a member of the NPT which has repeatedly failed to comply with its safeguards obligations and to take the steps required of it by the IAEA and the UN Security Council.

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