My Department examined the report and its conclusions on the inspections carried out by UN weapons inspectors into the weapons of mass destruction held by the former Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein. It drew a number of useful conclusions.
The report does not fully reflect statements made by Dr. Blix, the head of the arms inspections team, shortly before the conflict in Iraq. His report of 6 March 2003 to the Security Council said that many questions on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction remained unanswered. Resolution 1441 called for Iraq to provide a "currently accurate, full and complete declaration" of its programmes of weapons of mass destruction and demanded that Iraq "co-operate immediately, unconditionally, and actively with UNMOVIC and the IAEA". The reality was that Iraq was in material breach of its disarmament obligations through its failure to fully co-operate with the arms inspectors in carrying out their mandate of verifying that Iraq no longer held weapons of mass destruction.
Ireland's approach has consistently supported the UN role. The Government publicly and repeatedly stated it was for the UN Security Council to determine the existence of a threat to peace and its removal. It also wanted the council to decide the measures to be taken if its decisions were not respected or implemented in full. We supported the work of the weapons inspections teams throughout the crisis. On 5 March 2003, in this House, I called for them to continue the inspections process for as long as they, and the members of the Security Council, considered it necessary and worthwhile.
In December 2003 the EU adopted a strategy against the proliferation of WMD at the European Council. Support for the multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation treaties, and fostering the role of the United Nation's Security Council with regard to WMD, will be central elements in addressing their proliferation and means of delivery. Discussions with our EU partners are focusing on how best these elements might be implemented.
Our action in this area will seek to render multilateralism more effective by acting resolutely against proliferators. In order to carry out the verification of proliferating activities that are a potential threat to international peace and security, we will work to enable the Security Council to benefit from independent expertise and a pool of readily available competence. In that context, we will consider how the verification and inspection experience of UNMOVIC could be retained and utilised, for example by setting up a roster of experts.
