Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department has had contact with the Israeli Government with regard to the status of its nuclear programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6813/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland, along with our EU colleagues, is deeply concerned about the ongoing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, considering it to be a major threat to international peace and security. The European Council in December 2003 adopted a strategy against the proliferation of such weapons. Under this strategy, the EU will use all political and diplomatic instruments at its disposal and undertake a wide range of actions to stem the proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery by both state and non-state actors. In this context, the EU has underlined the importance of full compliance with, and national implementation of, existing disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements and other relevant international obligations.

An integral and important aspect of this policy is the EU's continuing commitment to the objective of pursuing a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, biological and chemical, and their delivery systems, as set out in the Barcelona Declaration of 1995.

Ireland has a long-standing policy of support for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, NPT, and attaches the utmost importance to its universalisation. India, Israel and Pakistan are the only three countries that have not acceded to the NPT and Ireland will continue to avail of every opportunity to call for their adherence to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states — nationally, within the EU, within the New Agenda Coalition, NAC, and at the UN.

At the NPT review conference in New York last May, I stated that it was a matter of serious concern that India, Israel and Pakistan continue to remain outside the NPT regime and I urged them to accede to the treaty unconditionally and at an early date. Such a call has also been made in recent statements by the European Union in line with an EU Common Position on the universalisation of key multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation agreements, adopted in 2003. The EU has made clear that Israel's accession to the NPT, and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, is of great importance to the EU as it would contribute to the peace and stability of the region and the prospects of an overall settlement in the Middle East.

In addition, Ireland, with our partners in the New Agenda Coalition, introduced a resolution on the NPT to the first committee of the United Nations General Assembly last October. A separate vote was called on the paragraph in the resolution that urged India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty. The paragraph was supported by 148 countries. Last December, when the issue was taken up in the plenary of the General Assembly, 158 UN member states endorsed this call. On both occasions, however, Israel voted against the resolution.