Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
68. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he and the EU accept that there is no nuclear site near Teheran in Iran and if he will actively support the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. [37005/13]
View answerIn his latest report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors (and, in parallel, to the United Nations Security Council) regarding the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran (report dated 28 August 2013), the IAEA Director General has stated again that the Agency is not in a position to clarify the outstanding issues which it has raised with Iran regarding Iran's nuclear programme.Under its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, Iran has declared to the Agency a total of seventeen nuclear facilities and nine locations outside facilities (LOFs) where nuclear material is customarily used. While, as the IAEA report notes, certain activities at some of these facilities contravene resolutions of the IAEA Board of Governors and of the UN Security Council, the Agency nevertheless continues to verify the non-diversion of declared material at these facilities and LOFs. However, the Agency also reports that, because Iran is not providing the necessary level of cooperation to the IAEA in the conduct of its verification activities, and by virtue of the fact that Iran has not implemented its Additional Protocol, which would facilitate enhanced verification, the Agency is simply unable to provide credible assurances to the international community regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran. For this reason, it is unable to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is for exclusively peaceful activities. This is not acceptable.
To restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme, I believe it is now essential for Iran to move quickly to engage with the IAEA to resolve all outstanding issues which the Agency has raised on behalf of the international community regarding Iran's nuclear programme and activities.
The Deputy knows that Ireland has chosen not to use nuclear power for the generation of electricity, but that we recognise the sovereign entitlement of each State to decide upon its own energy mix. We support the entitlement of States, including Iran, to access nuclear energy for peaceful uses under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is essential, however, that in claiming this entitlement under the NPT, all States, without exception, recognise that they are obliged to demonstrate the exclusively peaceful nature of their nuclear activities through the IAEA safeguards system. Iran has not yet moved to fully meet this requirement and I call upon it to do so.
The Deputy may be assured that Ireland will continue to support fully the NPT in all fora. It contains the only Treaty obligation upon the nuclear weapons states to disarm, and is a cornerstone of the international nuclear non-proliferation architecture.
