andMr. Quinn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement outlining the Government's attitude to the question of disarmament generally with specific reference to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the strategic arms limitation talks between the East and the West and the sales of arms and military equipment.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Disarmament Policy.
12.
I can summarise the position of the Government on the question of disarmament very briefly: we strongly support all serious disarmament measures; and pending the adoption of such measures by the major military powers, we support and encourage every effort to limit and control the further growth and development of armaments.
The policy of the Government on these issues was stated in detail by the then Taoiseach, Deputy J. Lynch, before the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament on 25 May 1978. A copy of that speech is available in the Library of the House. In the course of his statement, the then Taoiseach called for a "comprehensive, coherent and coordinated strategy for disarmament—a strategy which will work and which would meet the hopes and expectations of the peoples of the world".
He set out a series of specific proposals for such a strategy and urged that they be adopted by the Assembly. In fact Ireland was alone in the General Debate of the Special Session in calling for an immediate moratorium on all nuclear weapons testing pending the conclusion of a comprehensive test ban treaty.
Apart from this major statement at Head of Government level, Ireland has over the years in every appropriate international forum sought to advance and support proposals for disarmament and arms control. As a small and relatively unarmed country ourselves we favour the goal of general and complete disarmament which the UN General Assembly adopted in 1961 as a desirable aim. Clearly to achieve this would be very desirable and it is in the interest of the international community to do everything it can to bring it about. Realistically, however, we recognise that for the foreseeable future General and Complete Disarmament may remain only an ideal. Until it can be achieved we will continue to support other more limited disarmament measures since we believe that the better should not be the enemy of the good.
I may say that since the major event of the Special Session in 1978 there have been two regular sessions of the General Assembly at which a total of 80 disarmament resolutions were taken. The Irish delegation voted in favour of the great majority of these resolutions and voted against only one—for reasons explained by my predecessor in his reply to a parliamentary question on 14 December 1978.
Disarmament is, of course, also discussed at various conferences and fora besides the annual sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. The most important of these is the Committee on Disarmament, whose limited membership does not include Ireland, but whose work we seek to follow closely. For example, an Irish Army officer attended a seminar last March in connection with the committee's preparation of a chemical weapons treaty. The Irish representatives actively contributed to the Comprehensive Programme on Disarmament which was agreed, in principle, at the first substantive session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission which met in New York in May last. The Irish delegation played an important role at the last session of the Inhumane Weapons Conference, which will resume next September, and were involved in a number of important initiatives calling for the prohibition of such weapons. Ireland has also indicated its support in principle for the French proposal to hold a European Disarmament Conference.
In the present question the Deputies mention three specific issues—Nuclear Proliferation, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks—SALT—and the Sales of Arms and Military Equipment.
As the Deputies will be aware, it was Ireland which put forward the first specific proposal at the United Nations for a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Mr. Frank Aiken as Minister for External Affairs introduced a resolution in the General Assembly in 1958 at a time when the idea found little favour with the major powers. Mr. Aiken persevered in his efforts to secure support for what came to be called the "Irish Resolution". Eventually this resolution calling for a treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly in 1961. The treaty itself was negotiated and opened for signature in 1968. Ireland was one of the first signatories of the treaty which over the years has made a major contribution to international stability by limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.
We continue to support very strongly efforts to promote the strict implementation of the treaty and to encourage the widest possible acceptance of its provisions. We have played our part in the first meeting to review the treaty which took place in 1970. A second review conference is to take place in August and September of this year. The Irish delegation to this conference will make every effort to work for a strengthening of the treaty arrangements and support measures to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons.
As to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks these are of course a matter for direct negotiation between the two super powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. In the present international crisis there has been a delay in the ratification of the SALT II Agreement by the United States. However, I believe that both the Soviet Union and the United States intend to abide by the treaty provisions which they have negotiated—even though these have not yet been ratified—since both countries consider this to be in their own interest. I believe that it is important that they do so, since—despite its limitations—the SALT Treaty can at least help to prevent the further uncontrolled development of nuclear weapons and weapons delivery systems.
Thirdly, I have been asked about measures to control the sales of arms and military equipment. Ireland has long argued for the need to regulate the growing transfer and sales of conventional weapons. At the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament we called on the major military powers to begin negotiations aimed at the progressive reduction of their arms grants and arms sales. We also recommended that work should proceed at the international level on a comprehensive agreement to regulate and reduce arms transfers. At the Special Session Ireland circulated a specific proposal suggesting the adoption by States, as a voluntary target, of a maximum ceiling on their national defence expenditure. This might, for example, be expressed as a pledge not to expend more on defence than a certain percentage of their gross national product. That particular proposal has now been forwarded to the Committee on Disarmament for further consideration.
I am grateful for the Minister's extensive reply and note with pleasure some of the actions the Government have taken. What action, if any, did the Minister take on St. Patrick's Day last when he was in the White House and was in a position to raise some of these matters with someone who has put on cold ice the SALT Treaty and has increased the defence spending of his own country?
I always raise these matters on the appropriate occasion.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
That is the way a Minister for Foreign Affairs should behave.
I suspect the eve of the Democratic Party Primary was an appropriate occasion. Am I right in assuming that none of these matters was raised by the Minister during his visit to the US President?
I had a very wide ranging discussion on the day after that with Mr. Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State to the United States, in which we touched on this and on many other areas.
The Minister made no reference to such discussions in his reply, which was nothing if not lengthy.
How does the Minister reconcile his statement about Ireland being a small and relatively unarmed country with the fact that our defence expenditure has increased by 22 per cent according to the current Book of Estimates at a time when health, education and housing are being savagely cut back?
Education has not been cut back.
That is a separate question.
(Interruptions.)
13.
andMr. Quinn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the action taken by the Government to promote World Disarmament Week organised by the United Nations internationally which took place in December 1979 and if he will make a statement on the matter.
It was agreed at the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament, which was held in 1978, that each year the week beginning 24 October, the date which commemorates the founding of the United Nations, should be devoted to fostering the objectives of disarmament. On the eve of Disarmament Week in 1979 the Permanent Representative of Ireland addressed the disarmament delegations in the First Committee of the General Assembly and on 24 October the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ireland made a statement to the committee on the specific subject of Disarmament Week.
In addition, here at home the national steering committee for the International Year of the Child, in order to mark Disarmament Week, co-operated with the International Year of the Child secretariat in Europe in distributing to the media, documentation entitled "Disarmament and the child—an approach to peace education".
At the thirty third session of the General Assembly in 1978 the delegation of Mongolia tabled a resolution which was adopted by consensus requesting the Secretary General to prepare a model programme to assist states in developing their local programmes for Disarmament Week. That report was submitted to the General Assembly session which concluded last December and it is at present being studied in my Department.