Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I welcome the fact that he issued a strong statement and that this matter has been taken very seriously at the recent Foreign Affairs Council meeting. One worrying commentary I saw reported was that North Korea threatened South Korea with final destruction during a debate at the UN Conference on Disarmament recently and it talked about taking second and third steps after the nuclear test last week. That obviously needs to be seriously dealt with at UN and EU level and at every appropriate forum.

Can the Tánaiste indicate when the additional sanctions agreed at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday will become effective? If North Korea continues to pursue nuclear ballistic capability, as it has indicated, what steps will the European Union take to address the destabilisation of the Korean Peninsula? When is it expected that the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty will come into force? Am I correct in thinking that it awaits the signature of eight states? Is it under the remit of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty or under the remit of the International Atomic Energy Agency?

See this speech in context