Vol. 435 No. 8
1 Mr. Sargent asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in view of Ireland's long opposition to the threat that the retention of nuclear weapons poses to all the world's nations, he intends to voice to the Russian Ambassador Ireland's concerns regarding the Russian Government's recent decision to reserve for itself the right to have a first-strike capability.
Ireland's opposition to nuclear weapons is of long standing and well known. Successive Governments have made clear our policy of seeking the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons and the conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. We have made known our views on this subject both multilaterally in the United Nations and bilaterally to the nuclear powers. During his visit to Ireland on 25 October 1993, I made clear to the Russian Foreign Minister our views on arms control and disarmament, particularly in the light of the forthcoming extension conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Russian Defence Minister has stated that the new Russian military doctrine, adopted by the Russian Security Council on 2 November, states that Russia reserves the right to strike first with nuclear weapons either against nuclear weapon states, or against non-nuclear weapon states allied to nuclear weapon states, who attack Russia or her allies. With the exception of these two cases, in principle Russia will not employ nuclear arms against another party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which does not itself posses nuclear weapons.
The Government regrets that, at a time when the nuclear arms race between the nuclear states has effectively ended, and far-reaching reductions in the level of nuclear weapons have been agreed, there should be any suggestion that nuclear weapons might be used in a conflict, whether in a first strike or in retaliation.
