Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is important to distinguish between the different circumstances of Iran and Israel, particularly with regard to compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, under which Iran asserts its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In doing so, Iran has committed itself as it must not to engage in a nuclear weapons programme and to co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards system as a means of verifying the exclusively peaceful nature of its programme. As it has failed to co-operate with the agency in this manner, it stands in breach of a succession of UN Security Council and International Atomic Energy Agency resolutions concerning its nuclear programme. In its February 2013 report on the implementation of the safeguards in Iran, the agency concluded that it is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran or report any progress on the clarification of outstanding issues, including those relating to the possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme. It is for Iran to answer the many legitimate questions the international community has asked regarding its nuclear programme and address the international community's concerns about possible military dimensions to that programme. I call on Iran to do so without further delay.

Israel is not a party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and has never officially declared itself to possess nuclear weapons. While the decision to accede to any treaty is a sovereign decision for each state, Ireland would like to see full universality of the treaty. We have repeatedly called on the remaining three states that have chosen not to accede to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, including Israel, to do so as non-nuclear weapons states and to place all their nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. We have made these calls in all relevant international forums, through national as well as EU statements and through our participation in the seven-nation New Agenda Coalition, which was launched in Dublin in 1998 as a means of promoting greater progress on efforts towards a world free of nuclear weapons. The Deputy can be assured that we will continue to use all available opportunities to call on the three non-treaty states to join the treaty. The Deputy can also be assured that universal adherence to and full implementation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty remain key foreign policy objectives for this Government, as they have been for all previous Governments.

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