Phoenix: Ireland abandons NPT under US pressure

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Tuesday September 30, 2008 15:04 by Raymond D

Under pressure from the US and other nuclear powers, Micheál Martin has agreed to a proposal allowing India - a non-signatory of the NPT - to engage in nuclear trade. This constitutes a shredding of Ireland's historic commitment to the NPT and shows that there is not a principle on earth on which our government isn't prepared to capitulate - presumably for the right price.

"The Phoenix", September 19, 2008.

The retreat from our military neutrality has accelerated in recent years but the minister for foreign affairs, Micheál Martin, must be aware that the government's latest capitulation on nuclear non-proliferation marks a u-turn of profoundly historic proportions... Earlier this month the government acquiesced in an agreement by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), of which Ireland is a member, to allow India to engage in nuclear trade for the first time in three decades. India had previously been barred from such nuclear trade because of its refual to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), ie, it openly refuses to confine its nuclear programme to peaceful purposes.

The US administration had been most anxious to secure this waiver for India because that country is poised to secure multi-billion dollar contracts with the US..., Britain, Germany, Russia and France for the sale fo nuclear fuel and equipment. These countries placed enormous pressure on Ireland, Australia and New Zealand to drop their objections to the agreement. In other words, Irish policy on nuclear non-proliferation has been abandoned due to pressure from our western 'allies'...

Ireland's traditional policy has been a progressive and effective one that earned the state considerable respect world-wide. It was Irish minister for external affairs, Frank Aiken, who initiated NPT... Recognition of Ireland's crucial role came when Aiken was invited to be the first signatory to the treaty in Moscow when it was finally negotiated in 1968....

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) told "The Phoenix" in a statement last week that Ireland's vote was based on "India's commitment and actions on disarmament and non-proliferation..." This defies logic. The same statement expresses the hope that India will "over time take further steps towards the non-proliferation mainstream." In other words, it is hoped that India will 'over time' join the NPT which it still refuses to do, for obvious reasons, ie, its military nuclear programme, now about to be massively boosted and funded due to the enabling vote at the NSG...

The Irish media has given little or no attention to the extremely serious move by the US in bullying NSG members to sign up for this agreement...

Nor has there been any media focus on Ireland's dramatic reversal of its decades-long tradition of nuclear non-proliferation policies and the DFA, which has the largest and most sophisticated media machine of any government department, issued no press release on the matter.