Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the preparations being made in the lead up to the review conference of the nuclear non-proliferation conference in 2010. [1958/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Preparations for the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are well under way. The Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference met for two weeks in Vienna in 2007 and in Geneva in 2008 and the third meeting will take place in New York in May 2009. The aim of the preparatory cycle is to reach agreement on the agenda and modalities for the Conference in June 2010, which will review the Treaty and consider ways to promote its full implementation and universality. It is essential that the 2010 Review Conference ensures the continued vitality, relevance and strength of the NPT, which remains the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament. Ireland is working actively and intensively to this end, in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to continue to press for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.

The New Agenda Coalition (NAC), launched in Dublin in 1998 and composed of seven like-minded States (including Ireland) committed to enhanced action towards nuclear disarmament, continues to play an important role in the review process. Ireland acted as NAC coordinator and spokesman at the 2007 Preparatory Committee meeting in Vienna. Ireland is also working closely with civil society and NGOs in preparation for the Review Conference. In March 2008, the Government hosted the fifth meeting of the Article VI Forum of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) entitled NPT: Pathfinder to a Nuclear-Free World, which brought together prominent Government and NGO representatives.