Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

In that two minutes I shall return to an old theme that arises on occasions like this, namely, the famous United Nations Security Council Resolution 15/40 of 2004, which is referred to in the Minister of State's speech. This was an interesting measure and I point out with some humility to the Minister of State and his officials that this resolution was brought in as a Chapter 7 resolution under the United Nations Charter. What is attempted in some of the text of the resolution does not necessarily benefit from the context in which Chapter 7 was invoked. I state this very seriously. I welcome the linking of the biological weapons convention to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the general intention but it is rather sad that Resolution 15/40 of 2004 was itself so abused as to provide a cover for actions that were neither in compliance with the United Nations Charter nor with any fundamental principles of international law.

On behalf of the Labour Party I welcome this Bill to which we will be very happy to propose amendments on Committee State. I also pay tribute to the Minister of State and his staff for adding this Bill to the Cluster Munitions Bill and others. Without doubt, these are very significant enhancements of Ireland's reputation abroad.

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