Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the need for Israel to open its nuclear programme for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty without delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15511/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ireland has for some time called upon Israel to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) without further delay and to place all of its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. We have repeatedly called for universality of the Treaty in national as well as EU statements and also through our participation in the New Agenda Coalition. Ireland has also played an active role in promoting a Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, chemical and biological. We see this as a priority objective not just in terms of promoting longer term peace and stability in the region but also in terms of protecting the NPT, with which Ireland has been closely associated. The NPT is acknowledged as a cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament.

In 1995, the Treaty was extended indefinitely in a package of agreements that also included a resolution on the Middle East which envisages a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the region. It is important for the Treaty that this Middle East resolution is fully implemented. At the 2010 NPT Review Conference, Ireland brokered agreement on some practical next steps towards implementation, including a Conference to be attended by all States of the region. This agreement represented the first real progress towards implementing the 1995 Resolution in the fifteen years since it had been agreed, and Ireland’s role in this has been acknowledged. Work is presently underway to create the conditions necessary for a Conference in Helsinki in which all states of the region, including Israel, can participate.

Israel has never officially declared itself to possess nuclear weapons and draws a veil over its capabilities in this regard. It is one of just three states which are not party to the NPT. The Deputy can be assured that Ireland will continue to call on Israel and the two other states to accede without delay to the Treaty as non-nuclear weapons states and to conclude a full scope safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

The Deputy can also be assured that universal adherence to, and full implementation of, the NPT will remain key foreign policy objectives for the Government as we approach the next NPT Review Conference in 2015.