Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)

I am sharing time with Deputy Anne Ferris.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important matter. Ireland is viewed internationally as a distinguished and credible advocate for nuclear disarmament and supporter of non-proliferation. During the Cold War it was a progressive voice in the international sphere for disarmament. While superpowers were stockpiling vast nuclear arsenals and other states retained nuclear weapons programmes or continued to develop secret ones, Ireland worked in the multilateral forum of the United Nations to rid the world of this scourge.

Ireland has consistently punched above its weight on the nuclear issue. From the time of Mr. Frank Aiken's Irish resolutions in the 1950s and 1960s to the formation of the New Agenda Coalition in 1998 and the skilled diplomacy of the Irish delegation that led to the reaffirmation of the Middle East resolution at the 2010 NPT review conference, Ireland has played a positive role. This is one area in which Ireland's international reputation remains strong and credible. However, our reputation is not something we can rest on; we need to maintain it year in, year out and build on it. Ireland needs to remain a strong voice for international nuclear disarmament and a vocal critic of nuclear proliferation.

This means not only must we criticise rogue states for pursuing nuclear weapons programmes, but also we should ask difficult questions of our allies who are dragging their heels on nuclear disarmament.

We must also remain a strong advocate for rigorous inspection programmes. If a state has a peaceful nuclear programme, then that state needs to allow full-scale International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, and there should be no exceptions. Approximately 30 countries have developed nuclear power for energy purposes and this, too, has its dangers, as we witnessed in Japan last year with the meltdown at the Fukushima plant.

Unlike many of our European neighbours, Ireland does not pursue nuclear energy, as would be our right under the terms of the NPT. Our energy mix remains nuclear free and I strongly hope it remains so. Some commentators have used the current economic challenges this country faces to advocate a move towards nuclear energy. I am glad this is gaining little or no traction with the public. Ireland must remain nuclear free. The programme for Government calls on us to develop our own domestic renewable energy potential through exploiting our wind and geothermal resources. This is where this country's future lies for energy.

Even the best regulated nuclear energy facilities can produce environmental disasters, as was evident in the meltdown of the Fukushima plant. Prior to this disaster Japan was seen as the gold standard for nuclear regulation. Nuclear energy is not worth the risk. The environmental, ecological, and human risks are too great.

Ireland is on the right sight of the nuclear divide: no to weapons, no to developing weapons and no to nuclear energy. We need to continue to spread this message beyond our own shores. The very existence of nuclear weapons brings a perpetual insecurity to our fragile planet. We need to move towards a world without nuclear weapons and Ireland must continue to lead the way.

I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to examine the merits of a nuclear weapons convention, not as a replacement of the NPT but as a logical conclusion to the NPT's aims. The world requires a binding legal covenant which would provide for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. I am under no illusion this can be achieved in the short or even medium term, but the global elimination of nuclear weapons needs to be central to our disarmament policy.

I will conclude with the words of Uachtarán na hÉireann, Mr. Michael D. Higgins, who, in 2010 as a Labour Party Deputy, stated: "The aspiration for a nuclear weapons-free world contained in the NPT needs to be translated into reality with the emergence of a Nuclear Weapons Convention, saving the world from nuclear annihilation." This is the direction in which the world needs to move, and Ireland needs to provide the leadership.

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