The next item on the agenda is a motion on the non-proliferation treaty on which Deputy Mulcahy will speak.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: Presentation.
The Chair stated that it might not be necessary to formally propose the motion or to have it passed at the committee because that might involve some procedure in the Dáil. I do not want that to dilute what I have to say. I am sticking to the terms of it.
The Deputy is saying that he does not intend to formally propose the motion but that he wants the opportunity to speak to it at this stage. We fully appreciate the point he is making and I believe there will be strong support for it.
Is it possible for us to speak to a motion without proposing it?
Deputy Mulcahy will speak about it without formally proposing it.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons came into force in 1970 and is the main international instrument for controlling the spread of nuclear weapons. This idea had been promoted in 1958 by Frank Aiken and, in recognition of his role, Ireland was invited to be the first state to sign the text that emerged from the subsequent negotiations. The NPT came into force in 1970 and essentially consisted of a bargain. The bargain was that in consideration of other non-nuclear states at the time not obtaining nuclear weapons, the nuclear powers, that is, the US, UK, France, Russia and China, would agree to disarm under Article 6 of the treaty. The treaty has been reviewed at five-year intervals to assess progress towards its main goals of non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and co-operation for non-military purposes.
Concerned at the lack of progress in nuclear disarmament in the aftermath of the indefinite extension in 1975 and the implications of the series of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the Foreign Ministers of Ireland, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden launched the new agenda coalition in June 1998. This group sought to inject fresh thinking and a new momentum into multilateral consideration of these issues and has co-ordinated closely on nuclear disarmament matters at all NPT meetings since. In an article in the International Herald Tribune on 22 September 2004, the Foreign Ministers of these countries, including the then Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, stated:
In 2000, the nuclear powers made an unequivocal undertaking to eliminate their nuclear arsenals and all parties adopted a practical plan for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament. Since then, however, very little progress has been made.
There are deeply disturbing signs pointing in the opposite direction. Instead of working towards the entry into force of the nuclear test-ban treaty, the United States, which was the first country to sign the treaty, has withdrawn its support. And China delays its ratification process year after year. Instead of eliminating nuclear weapons, some nuclear powers have plans to modernize or develop new kinds of nuclear weapons or new rationales for them.
This sentiment was echoed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern when he addressed the committee on 28 June 2005. While reporting on the proceedings of the seventh Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons review conference, which took place from 2 to 27 May 2005 at the United Nations in New York, Deputy Dermot Ahern stated:
The Government is particularly disappointed that it did not prove possible to make further progress on the implementation of the nuclear disarmament obligation as set out in Article VI of the treaty. What we regard as the central bargain of the treaty, that the non-nuclear weapon states would not develop such weapons in return for which the nuclear weapon states would reduce and eliminate their nuclear weapons, was further developed at the NPT review conferences in 1995 and 2000.
The world has never been a more dangerous place as regards nuclear weapons. The nuclear powers are rebuilding and modernising their nuclear arsenals in breach of their treaty obligations. Several other countries, namely, Israel, India and Pakistan, have developed nuclear weapons outside the NPT framework and, as we are all aware, Iran is rapidly developing a nuclear capacity and, to say the least, its intentions with regard to developing nuclear weapons are unknown.
The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs has a sincere obligation in this context. I believe we should inform ourselves, to the greatest extent possible, on the issues laid out in paragraph 2 of the motion.
Earlier this year, the joint committee wrote to Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, in Vienna inviting him to address the committee. However, he declined to do so at the time. I believe we should follow it up and invite him to come here or we should meet him or his officials in Vienna, if necessary.
A central focus of our work next year should be the issue of nuclear non-proliferation and also to see whether we can assist the international effort in rejuvenating the NPT. The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, stated that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is "the most universal of all the multilateral instruments in the field of disarmament and proliferation". However, I would go further. I believe the treaty is the only show in town with regard to this issue. Given Ireland's early and important link with this process, we should make it one of the priorities for our work
Without formally becoming involved in discussing the motion, we can agree because all members of the joint committee feel strongly about this issue.
In fairness to Deputy Mulcahy, I am very glad he has supported the treaty in its full sense. In that context, we must consider what would be the position if we reacted to the Iranian situation outside the context of the treaty and its various obligations, particularly those under Article VI. The Deputy was right to highlight that case and I support him. We should follow the strategy outlined by Deputy Mulcahy.
I support Deputy Mulcahy's call to extend another invitation to Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei.
I think his call is timely because the situation has become much more unstable since the NPT issue was not included in the UN review. That puts even greater emphasis on it. In this regard, we have planned a number of actions that are already under way. Between now and the next meeting, we hope to have a report on the current situation but perhaps we should work out a programme, an action plan and the steps we might take to deal with this issue. The Deputies' comments are noted and fully supported.
Will this be in accordance with paragraph 2?
Yes. We have already requested a briefing on those paragraphs and hope to receive it soon.
The joint committee went into private session at 5.30 p.m. and adjourned at 5.40 p.m. sine die.