Written answers

Tuesday, 3 July 2007

Department of Foreign Affairs

Nuclear Disarmament Initiative

9:00 pm

Photo of Terence FlanaganTerence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 136: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty will come up for review once again; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18724/07]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which came into force in 1970, Review Conferences are held every five years and afford an opportunity to review the implementation of the Treaty in all its aspects. The last such Conference was in 2005 and the next will take place in 2010.

As part of each review cycle, a series of preparatory meetings are also held and there will be a Preparatory Committee meeting in each of the three years leading up to 2010. The first of these has already taken place, in Vienna from 28 April to 9 May 2007. The second meeting will take place in Geneva from 28 April to 9 May 2008. No dates or venue have yet been agreed for the third Preparatory Committee meeting in 2009.

At the Vienna meeting, Ireland had a high profile, playing an active role as co-ordinator of the New Agenda Coalition (NAC) and making two statements on behalf of the group, as well as submitting a NAC working paper on nuclear disarmament for consideration during the review cycle. Ireland also participated actively as a Member State of the European Union and as a member of the G10, a group based in Vienna which focuses mainly on issues related to compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. The EU and G10 also submitted several papers during the Preparatory Committee meeting.

While no negotiated outcome or substantive recommendations were required from the Preparatory Committee meeting in Vienna, it did provide an opportunity for a useful and constructive exchange of views across all three pillars of the NPT. Despite some initial difficulties in securing agreement on the agenda, discussions generally took place in a positive atmosphere and our assessment is that we helped lay important foundations for future work in this review cycle.

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