Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have a brief opportunity to participate in this debate. It has been a useful discussion, with clear interest and engagement from Members, and I very much welcome that. It is clear that the House's commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons is as strong as ever and I assure the House that the Government's commitment is equally strong.

I thank all Members for their helpful contributions, on which the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Government will reflect. No doubt we will have an opportunity to come back here to debate some of these issues in more detail, both here in plenary session and also at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.

This is a policy area in which, it has been said, Ireland has always punched above its weight, and I think that is true. It is something which we should rightly be proud of, but not complacent about. Clearly, much is still required to be done and we are as determined as ever to ensure it is done.

During the 2015 NPT review cycle, which commenced recently with the first, largely procedural, preparatory committee meeting in Vienna, NPT state parties will take stock of how the 64 follow-on actions agreed at the 2010 review conference are being implemented. Over the next three years we will also decide where we would like the NPT to be in 2015 and we will work out how to get there. It is important we capitalise on the positive outcome of the 2010 review conference and build on that further in 2015.

Ireland will be among those countries seeking an ambitious outcome to the 2015 review conference, and as I have stated, we will be looking to the nuclear weapons states to build confidence in their stated commitment to disarm. Progress on disarmament will undoubtedly assist further progress on non-proliferation.

I assure the House that even in the context of our present difficult financial position, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation will remain a foreign policy priority for the Government. This is an area in which Ireland has historically made, and still can make, a difference. We can continue to do so at relatively little financial cost. Our disarmament team, at home and abroad, is by universal standards very small. We focus on those areas which we regard as a priority and where we can make a difference. We pursue them doggedly and with considerable determination, conviction and passion, and this will continue.

As I stated at the outset, strong political support for our policy in this area is important if Ministers and officials are to take forward positions on these issues in the relevant international fora. My Department is grateful to the House for the strong support, not only as expressed in this debate but over many years and, indeed, decades. We certainly do not take it for granted.

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