Written Answers. - French Nuclear Testing.
Tom Kitt
Ceist:
22
Mr. T. Kitt
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
if he will seek a special meeting of the General Affairs Council in order to mobilise opposition at EU level to the French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
[13056/95]
Seán Haughey
Ceist:
23
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
the action, if any, the Irish Government has taken to demonstrate our opposition to French nuclear testing in the South Pacific; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13081/95]
Ray Burke
Ceist:
28
Mr. R. Burke
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
the political and diplomatic efforts the Government intends to take to communicate to the French authorities the revulsion of the Irish people at France's continued nuclear testing; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13205/95]
Ray Burke
Ceist:
32
Mr. R. Burke
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
the measures, if any, he has taken to protest to the Chinese Government at its decision to resume nuclear testing.
[13210/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22, 23, 28 and 32 together.
The Government is totally opposed to all nuclear weapons testing and they view with deep concern and dismay the resort to renewed nuclear testing in recent months by the French and Chinese Governments. The Government's concerns at the French and Chinese actions have been made quite clear to both Governments bilaterally and in the appropriate multilateral fora.
I set out the Government's concerns at the two Chinese tests in my statements of 16 May and 17 August. In addition, our views were conveyed through diplomatic channels to the Chinese Government in Beijing. On 17 August, the Irish observer delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, on my instructions, raised these concerns at the Chinese tests during a Plenary session of the Conference.
Following the announcement by the President of France in June that France would resume testing, I urged the French Government, in public statements and in my bilateral contacts with my French counterpart, to reconsider this decision and I appealed to France to set an international example in support of continued moratoriums on nuclear testing with a view to early progress towards a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In this House on 27 June, and in public statements on 14 June, 10 July and 1 September, I set out the strong concerns of the Irish Government over the planned French action. In these statements, I particularly emphasised the commitment, which had been made by the nuclear weapon States at the NPT Review and Extension Conference, to exercise "utmost restraint" pending the entry into force of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In addition, I invoked the wider interests of general nuclear disarmament and of the environment.
I pressed these points in strong terms at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in the margins of the EU summit in Cannes on 26 June, and at the General Affairs Council on 17 July.
Following the French decision to proceed, on 5 September with a test at Muroroa Atoll, I expressed the Government's dismay and deep concern that France had proceeded with its action in the face of unprecedented opposition on the part of countries of the Pacific region and despite numerous appeals to desist addressed to France by friendly countries, including Ireland. I appealed again to France to bring to an end its nuclear testing and to mitigate by all possible means the health and environment effects. I stressed in particular that the commitments to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament which were given by all participants at the Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference must be upheld; and I restated our resolute and unwavering opposition to all nuclear testing.
I availed of the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Santander ten days ago to emphasise the concerns of the Government, and the strength of opinion on this issue within Ireland, to the Foreign Minister of France. A number of my EU colleagues, indeed the majority, also made clear their opposition to the French testing. I will continue to avail of every appropriate opportunity — both bilateral and multilateral, including meetings within the framework of the EU — to raise the issue.
The French Government, for their part, have implied that their testing programme may not extend to the full series of eight tests originally announced. For my part, I wish to see no further tests and I have made that perfectly clear to the French Government. Having said that, I regard the recent French assurance that France will support a fully comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which unequivocally applies to all nuclear testing of whatever scale, as an important commitment in the context of the objective of concluding a binding Test Ban Treaty next year.
I can assure the House that our contacts with the French Government and the strong public interest in the issue in Ireland have left the French authorities in no doubt about the opposition in Ireland to the resumption of nuclear testing.
