IRELAND

NPT PREPCOM, 9 APRIL 1997

CLUSTER  1. SPEAKING  POINTS



Welcome the contributions/papers by Canada, Mexico and New

Zealand. Ireland can support the approach taken.



   The statement which was given yesterday by the distinguished

Ambassador of the Netherlands on behalf of the European Union

describes the progress that has been made in relation to nuclear

disarmament and non-proliferation. At the end of our meeting we

heard an important statement by Ambassador Bourgois of France

on behalf of five nuclear weapon states in which they reiterated

their strong and continuing support for the MT and their

determination to implement fully all the provisions of the Treaty,

including those of Article VI.



   Welcome their readiness to begin immediately negotiations in the

Conference on Disarmament on a convention banning the

production of fissile material - an objective which was included in

the Principles and Objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and

Disarmament as being an important element of the programme of

action for the full and effective realisation of Article VI. We deeply

regret the obstacles which have arisen in the CD thereby

preventing these important negotiations from getting underway on

the basis of the Shannon mandate..



   Acknowledge statements from the US, China, and Russia giving

details of the steps which they have Taken to fulfill their

obligations under the NPT. In fact, it is clear from what they have

told us that some considerable Progress has been made over the

past decade and my delegation warmly welcomes this.



   We do not therefore believe that the recent nuclear disarmament

record is so poor as to warrant a complete loss of confidence in the

incremental approach to nuclear disarmament which is being

pursued unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally.



   In this regard, we consider START I to be a significant

achievement in nuclear disarmament and we look forward to the

ratification of START 11 by the Russian Federation and its early

implementation. We also fad the unilateral measures taken by

Britain and France encouraging. And of course the conclusion of

the CTBT was a historic achievement. Most recently, the

commitment by Russia and the US to begin negotiations on a Start

III Treaty immediately after Stan 11 enters into force is a most

important development. I should like to join other delegations

which have called for an early commencement of these

negotiations.



  The step by step approach to nuclear disarmament, using all

possible avenues of negotiation, has achieved results important

enough to justify the claim that this method has proven the most

effective. Quite properly the indefinite extension of the NPT is

credited with creating the climate for continued nuclear

disarmament. My delegation fully subscribes to that view.

However, we also believe that the continuance of such an

environment requires further efforts at preventing the spread of

nuclear weapons and further progress towards nuclear

disarmament.



  The nuclear weapons States are committed to systematic and

progressive efforts to reduce nuclear weapons globally with the

ultimate goal of eliminating these weapons They are under a

continuing obligation to demonstrate their determined pursuit of

such efforts. We were therefore pleased to hear in their statement

yesterday a reaffirmation of that. However, my delegation believes

that more needs to be done to build confidence.



  In our view, it would help to create confidence  in the process of

nuclear disarmament if severally or jointly, the nuclear weapons

States set out their perspective. and imbued the words "systematic

and progressive" with meaning. This would be a confidence

building measure and could greatly help to enhance faith in the

incremental approach to nuclear disarmament. Such B perspective

need not be time-bound, but could be a reaffirmation on the part of

the nuclear powers of the process of nuclear disarmament through

a broad elaboration of the next steps they themselves propose to

take.



 The delegation of Canada has set out a number of steps in the

paper entitled "Views on a Rolling Document which they attached

to their statement in the general debate yesterday.



  My delegation can fully endorse these suggestions.



  In the course of the past two years, there have been a series of

external opinions on the obligations of nuclear weapons states

under Article VI. These include the advisory opinion of the

Interactional Court of Justice which confirmed the legal obligation

to pursue and bring to conclusion negotiations leading to complete

disarmament. The report of the Canberra Commission which

presented a number of practical steps which if implemented would

make a significant contribution toward this goal. -I he resolution

from the European Parliament of 14 March 1997 and most recently

the preparation by a committee of lawyers, scientists and

disarmament experts of a model All of these present in different

ways and with different senses of urgency arguments and

invitations to the international and the nuclear weapons states in

particular, IO take very definitive steps towards the initiation of

rapid and early negotiations which would bring the elimination of

nuclear weapons closer. We recognise that these calls may not be

greeted with equal enthusiasm by all but nevertheless less they do

signal the importance which the ultimate goal of the elimination

weapons as enshrined in Article VI. holds for many of our people



   My delegation has already indicated in another place the

desirability of establishing a forum or a mechanism in the CD to

enable it to consider the question of what nuclear disarmament

measures it might negotiate in addition to or after the conclusion of

the Fissile Material Cut-off Convention. That is, the Conference

could seek to arrive at a consensus on those negotiating steps

towards nuclear disarmament which might require a multilateral

effort in the CD. The Programme of Action tabled there by 28

countries could be just one proposal on the table in such a

discussion The discussion could also take into consideration the

possible future bilateral or plurilateral efforts of the P5 and also the

positions of the non declared nuclear weapons States.



   The establishment of such a forum or mechanism for the

consideration of the possible next steps in multilateral nuclear

disarmament negotiations would not constitute, in itself, a

substantive step. It would simply permit the CD to develop a

longer term perspective on its future nuclear disarmament agenda



   The distinguished representative of China quoted a Chinese

poem yesterday to illuminate our work. Allow me, if I may, to

reciprocate by quoting lines form 8 poem by the Irish Poet and

Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney from a poem entitled "From the

Canton of Expectation"



   We lived in a land of optative moods, under high, banked clouds

of resignation" Hope that in the course of the coming sessions of

the NPT Preparatory Committee, ending with the 2000 Review

Conference itself "the high, banked clouds of resignation" will

have rolled away allowing our collective moods to rise.