Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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91. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the recent resolution before the International Atomic Energy Agency calling on Israel to join the non-proliferation treaty; his views on the resolution; which way Ireland voted; and if he is in favour of a nuclear weapons free Middle East. [37726/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the recent resolution at the IAEA General Conference to which the Deputy refers.

Efforts have been continuing since the 2010 Review Conference to organise a Conference on a Weapons of Mass Destruction-free zone, including nuclear weapons, in the Middle East It has been our opinion - and the opinion of all other EU Member States - that there is still reason to believe that this Conference may yet take place. Ireland believes strongly that ridding the Middle East region of all weapons of mass destruction is an important and urgent task. For this reason, Ireland brokered a consensus agreement at the 2010 Review Conference on organising this Conference, which had the support of all the parties in the region.

While the content of the resolution may be viewed as being in line with our position on the promotion of NPT universality and the application of IAEA safeguards, the tabling of the resolution at this time, when there remains some prospect of agreement being reached on scheduling the Conference which all parties in the region would attend, may not be conducive to facilitating participation in this Conference.

For this reason, Ireland chose to vote with all other EU member States against the resolution. In light of the relevance of the resolution to the NPT, Ireland regularly reviews its vote and will continue to do so, taking into account the prospect of the Conference being convened, since our primary goal must be to help achieve a Middle East Zone free of all weapons of mass destruction. I discussed the prospects for convening the Conference with the Foreign Minister of Egypt, which is one of Ireland’s five partners in the New Agenda Coalition for nuclear disarmament, at a meeting in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly last month.

I further wish to note that Ireland, in conjunction with all EU Member States, supported a resolution on the “Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East”, and that this resolution was adopted by the General Conference.