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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 19 Apr 1989

Vol. 388 No. 9

Written Answers. - Disarmament Policy.

57.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in view of the Taoiseach's recent offer of Ireland as a location for a future Summit Conference, whether Ireland itself is preparing any new initiatives in the area of disarmament and the deflection of resources for military production to the urgent tasks of development.

The Government are not preparing any new initiative in this area at present but our concern about it and our strong support for international action in relation to it are clearly on record.

The final document of the international conference on the relationship between disarmament and development, which met in New York in August-September 1987, sets out an agreed action programme in the area of disarmament and development. As the Deputy is no doubt aware, I addressed the conference and set out in a full way the Government's views and priorities in this important and complex area. The Government fully subscribe to the action programme of the international conference which represents the current extent of international consensus in this field. The Government attach particular importance to the reaffirmation in the final document of the international commitment to allocate a portion of the resources released through disarmament for the purposes of social and economic development with a view to bridging the economic gap between developed and developing countries. The Government will avail of all appropriate opportunities to restate their commitment to this goal and welcome the fact that the question of disarmament and development, in the light of the agreed action programme, will be kept under periodic review by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

On a more general level, the Government's views in the area of disarmament and the priorities that Ireland would wish to see adopted by the international community, were set out in the address which the Taoiseach made to the UN Third Special Session on Disarmament in June 1988. This address lays the basis of the approach which Ireland will adopt in its involvement in the area of arms control and disarmament at the international level. The Taoiseach also discussed disarmament issues with Mr. Gorbachev during his recent stopover at Shannon.

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