David Norris (Independent)

The historical background to the Bill has been adequately and appropriately outlined by the two previous speakers. It is fair to note that since the time of the late Frank Aitken Ireland has played a distinguished and historic role in the banning of nuclear weaponry. It is something in which we can take considerable pride. Unfortunately, however, matters have not advanced as much as we would like. I do not mean my contribution to be just an attack on the United States but given that of the countries that have failed to sign and ratify the treaty it is the country to which Ireland is closest, it is important that we, as friends of the US in general, although in my case not friends of the current regime there, should make known our views.

I wish to put a question to the Minister of State. I note that there are more than 300 seismic stations to monitor the treaty but Ireland is not included among them. That is a large number and the stations must be scattered across the globe. Is there a particular reason for Ireland not being included? It would be an important role for Ireland. I would welcome our co-operation in this technical manner and I believe we have the expertise to do it.

It is easy for Ireland to sign this treaty, so let us not over-estimate the courage of what we are doing. We are unlikely to start manufacturing nuclear weapons. It is also highly unlikely that there would be a terrorist threat in this country, although it is always possible. However, one must be conscious of the proliferation of nuclear technology. When one considers the countries involved in this issue and the history of the past ten or 20 years, one can identify two sources of worry. The first is the result of the breakdown of the former Soviet Union. A great deal of nasty material that disappeared and is unaccounted for might have found its way into the hands of people who are not what one would describe as responsible. Adequate accounting and monitoring of this material is necessary but that has not yet been done.

The other issue is that the worst offender is Pakistan. We do not appear to appreciate that the man who headed that country's nuclear programme opened a type of one-stop-shop in Pakistan whereby he distributed these materials to the most appalling sources, apparently including North Korea. I welcome the fact that there has been some amelioration in the situation in North Korea and I hope that will continue. However, it is the last country to announce officially that it conducted a test. That was in 2006.

I welcome the fact that the United States has given an undertaking to observe the moratorium. However, the US is the only country that has employed nuclear weapons in active military engagement. That gives it a particular moral responsibility and I do not believe it has lived up to that responsibility. The US has constantly attempted to undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency and its reports. It sees the nuclear issue as an arm of foreign policy; there is little to do with principle involved. That a nation refusing to ratify the treaty attempts to use moral arguments against Iran is extraordinary. I have no great time for Iran and President Ahmadinejad, while occasionally capable of acute analysis, is an unpredictable maverick who must be watched. However, we must be careful about what is transpiring and I ask the Minister of State to raise this matter at the highest possible levels.

I am concerned about the dying days of the Bush regime. For example, this morning's The Irish Times contains a report regarding a former CIA operative involved in disclosures concerning a number of legal cases he is taking. His claims are supported by those of others and the track records of the United States and Britain in managing such information. He maintains that there was a deliberate suppression of findings of the Central Intelligence Agency on Iran's nuclear programme. Political interference in and management of information about the precise nature of the perceived nuclear threat in Iran is cause for concern.

Coupled with this is the fact that the landmark intelligence report presented to the US Houses indicated that Iran had halted work on nuclear weapons design in 2003. At the time, this man and others were being instructed to falsify reports so that they could be used politically by the Administration. According to his lawyer:

[the] informant provided secret evidence that Tehran had halted its research into designing and building a nuclear weapon. Yet, when the operative sought to file reports on the findings, his attempts were "thwarted by CIA employees", according to court papers. Later he was told to "remove himself from any further handling" of the informant, the documents say.

This is a cause of concern, given that reports published this week and last tell of military exercises involving the Israeli air force and the air forces of member states of the European Union in what Israeli daily newspapers described as a test run for a raid on the Iranian nuclear facility. As I am not in a position to say whether this is true, will the Minister of State find out? Such a raid would be extraordinarily dangerous in light of the human, military and political catastrophe in the Middle East that it would unleash. In terms of environmental damage, one cannot calculate the impact of the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere as a result of this type of cowboy bombing raid. We must take this issue seriously, particularly when coupled with other situations.

My nature is to be a friend of the United States and its constitution, something I cannot say of President Bush, and not to be particularly friendly to the regime in Tehran. However, one must view these matters dispassionately. Like me, the Minister of State may have noticed the recent development of a slush fund of $400 million granted by Congress to President Bush and his Administration for use in covert operations in Iran for which he is not answerable to Congress. The committee charged by both American Houses with monitoring and seeking accountability in this respect is supine and has not lived up to its constitutional function. Since the award of the money, there has been a rash of abductions, kidnappings, bombings and assassinations and the funding of dissident groups within Iran. Coupled with the fact that President Bush has not ruled out a strike, anyone interested in a nuclear test ban must be concerned by these developments.

We would all wish for a world free of nuclear weapons. The more they proliferate, the more dangerous they are and the greater the mathematical possibility of an accident occurring or their falling into the hands of an irresponsible leader. Regrettably, there are many such leaders on the planet. When I was a child, I trusted adults because I believed that when one grew up, one gained sense. This is plainly not always true in political terms and we cannot rely on a number of countries' political leadership, particularly those on the list presented by the Minister to State to the House.

I ask the Minister of State to take my comments on board and to make representations regarding the situation in Iran. According to the IAEA and reports of the American intelligence services, it appears that the programme has been halted while remaining within legal boundaries. The United States has not ratified the treaty, but it seems to be preparing contingency plans for launching an assault against a supposed nuclear facility. I wish to signal a warning and to ask the Minister of State to make some inquiries as to whether we, as a small country, a friend of the United States and world peace and the historic source of much of the valuable work done on banning nuclear weapons, can exert some degree of pressure on the US so that it will not embark on this dangerous mission.