Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Yes, I am generally not in favour of bilateral agreements. I support multilateralism and the attempts to ensure all nations disarm, as originally intended under the NPT, while also preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. That has been successful, although there are some who say there are difficulties. I agree there are difficulties, but at least Iran remains part of the NPT and has not walked away. Also, the success of the six-party talks has shown the DPRK can be reined in somewhat. This shows that pressure from all nations rather than from one block can ensure nuclear proliferation does not happen. In the 1960s some people would have suggested that by now we would have many more countries with nuclear bombs, but that is not the case. Therefore, the NPT has been successful in this area.

I said, to both Dr. Hans Blix and Dr. El Baradei whom I met separately, that our view is that the multilateral effort of the NPT is the way to go. I had difficulty with the fact that both men had different perspectives and told them that. They acknowledged my difficulty and said they understood a neutral nation like Ireland with a history and good record on articulating a non-nuclear stance would adopt fairly stringent attitudes towards what is going on in a number of instances.

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