Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend Senators Boyle and O'Malley and former Senator de Búrca for initiating the Bill. As countries and legislatures across Europe and the world attempt to clean up the financial and economic mess we have witnessed over the past three years, it is important, at the same time, that we do not lose sight of the fact that pressing global issues predated the current economic crisis. Successive Governments have played a positive role on the world stage in advancing the prohibition of weapons of this nature and it is reassuring that this approach remains a feature of Government policy. I commend the Senators' approach in bringing the Bill before the House. It is short and concise and its enactment would send an important message about Ireland's moral values, what we consider acceptable in times of war and the measures we deem necessary to establish a global and lasting peace.

According to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, approximately 20 countries are thought to have uranium weapons in their arsenals. These include the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, Belarus, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Taiwan. It is unacceptable that three member states of the European Union have these weapons in their arsenals in 2010. I find it particularly surprising that Greece maintains a stockpile of these weapons. According to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons:

These were to be destroyed with the rest of Greece's landmine stocks by March 2008, as of March 2007 no stocks had been destroyed. Greece informed landmine monitors that they were having technical problems as the ADAM mines had to be frozen before they can be destroyed.

If Greece is having technical problems, I suggest it look for help to its neighbours in the European Union. Perhaps we can offer technical advice. I know the Army is involved in giving advice to foreign armies in the area of weapons decommissioning. I am not sure whether this is an area in which we could offer technical expertise, but I expect that if not us, some other European Union country could provide Greece with the technical advice it requires.

It is disturbing that, despite repeated calls from the European Parliament for a total ban on the stockpiling and use of depleted uranium ammunitions, France and the United Kingdom have continued to refuse to accede to such a ban. I urge the Senators concerned and the Government as a whole to use the enactment of the Bill to exert pressure at European Union level to have a ban introduced and a binding international treaty put in place.

Unfortunately, the United States has, as in so many disarmament and human rights issues, utterly failed to take a lead or even lend its considerable moral, financial and political weight to the advancement of this cause. It needs to re-examine its attitude to international treaties such as this. Included in the list of treaties signed but not ratified by it are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and, of course, the Kyoto Protocol. There is hope that at least some of these issues may be addressed during the Administration of President Obama. However, it is immoral and unacceptable that countries such as Ireland should simply do nothing in the light of our — admittedly small — role on the world stage.

Many commentators contend we are witnessing the decline of the primacy of the United States in global affairs. While this presents modern societies with many challenges, it also presents opportunities to redefine what might be considered morally and politically acceptable during times of peace and war. The European Union has been invested with considerable collective, economic and soft power to push for these changes. With its member states, it must decide what kind of player it wishes to be on the world stage. Ireland can and should take a leading role in defining and articulating a more progressive and cohesive foreign policy script for the Union. Such a script should hold no place, tacit or otherwise, for the retention of such destructive and devastating weapons.

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons reported positively on the concise and considered nature of the Bill brought forward by Senators Boyle and O'Malley and former Senator de Búrca. The Bill states:

"Uranium weapon" means a mechanism which serves to destroy or damage objects and uses uranium in its mode of action. Excluded from this definition are weapons that incorporate uranium and whose primary tactical purpose in this incorporation is the production, flux, or enhancement, of nuclear fission or fusion.

The ICBUW believes the text will "help to 'future-proof' any eventual legislation against the development of new conventional uranium weapons." I must admit to a limited understanding of the definitional and prescriptive considerations the Senators faced but the endorsements from groups such as the ICBUW and individuals such as Denis Halliday are most welcome.

It is also encouraging that the following provision is set out explicitly in the text of the Bill: "The transport, possession, transfer and use of uranium weapons and uranium armour-plate in the territorial waters and exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Ireland is prohibited". I support the Bill wholeheartedly and commend the Senators concerned on bringing it before the House.