Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will make a public statement calling on Israel to allow the same inspections of its nuclear programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency as it demands of Iran. [15624/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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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.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I am not surprised by the Tánaiste's answer. The position he outlined is incredibly disappointing for Ireland. In 1958, this country took the initiative that led to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It was a wonderful achievement at the time. In essence, the Tánaiste is saying a country that stays outside the terms of the treaty can basically get away with whatever it likes, whereas a country that signs up to the treaty subjects itself to international scrutiny. Despite what the Tánaiste has said, not a single shred of evidence has been produced to say Iran is manufacturing nuclear weapons.

In fact, there is much evidence to show the real objective is to stop Iran from developing uranium, an activity which it is perfectly entitled to do for peaceful means, provided it does so under the scrutiny of the IAEA, as it has done.

Israel, on the other hand, remains outside the treaty and has developed possession of at least 400 weapons, yet the United States has continued to pump in money, making Israel the largest recipient of US military aid despite it not being open to any scrutiny. If one was to follow the logic of the reply, what a country could do is pull out of the treaty and basically not be subject to any scrutiny whatsoever. It is not good enough to just say "Come on in. Join the treaty, lads". We should be publicly demanding that Israel adheres to the same standards it seeks to impose on Iran.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Let us be clear about Ireland's position in regard to nuclear weapons. Ireland has consistently sought a situation where the world is free of nuclear weapons, and that is our consistent foreign policy position. There are two elements to that. First, we ask that all states join the non-proliferation treaty. I again call on those states which are outside it, including Israel, to join the non-proliferation treaty. Second, those states which have joined the non-proliferation treaty are obliged to comply with the terms of that treaty. This means they are entitled to use nuclear material for peaceful purposes for energy and so on, and while there is a debate about that, it is a different matter. However, they are entitled to do that only under the supervision of the IAEA.

A succession of IAEA reports have expressed serious concern regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme. This is why the situation of Iran is the subject of scrutiny and why the EU applied a regime of sanctions in order to persuade Iran to participate in the E3+3 talks and to have serious engagement about assuring the international community that its nuclear capability is not being used for military purposes.