US: The US should follow the example of former president Reagan and allow verification of its nuclear disarmament programme, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern told a UN nuclear disarmament conference in New York last night.
Referring to the lack of verification procedures in a 2002 nuclear treaty between the US and Russia, Mr Ahern said: "It was an American president who once reminded the world of the need to 'trust but verify'. It is a maxim worth following."
He added that the decision by some countries to build new nuclear weapons and put nuclear capability in existing weapons "does not inspire confidence" in Ireland and other signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) .
Mr Ahern was due to deliver the speech at the Seventh Review Conference of the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty in New York.
Foreign ministers from around the world are meeting to help revive the NPT which is in serious danger, according to the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan.
However, disagreements between the US, Iran and other countries are expected to bring deadlock at the conference.
In his speech, Mr Ahern was to warn delegates that they must address the serious challenges and not resort to the formulaic political speech heard at previous conferences.
"I would hope that all state parties will make every effort to avoid what has all too often been a characteristic of discussions at previous conferences of this kind - namely, a tendency to talk past each other, to engage in a dialogue of the deaf," he said.
Mr Ahern warned that the NPT had been subjected to "very severe strains" in recent years and that any undermining of confidence in the treaty could lead to its downfall.
He expressed disappointment that the US, Iran and other countries had not agreed to a International Atomic Energy Agency proposal that would provide fissile material for civilian nuclear reactors as a reward to countries who stop their uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing programmes.
He described efforts to save the NPT as an "acid test" for the UN.
Mr Ahern also expressed disappointment at the decision by North Korea to withdraw from the treaty in 2003, the first time a signature country has done so since the treaty was negotiated in 1970.
He said North Korea's actions should lead the conference to assess the treaty's withdrawal provisions.
"In considering these questions, we must also not lose sight of the reality that three countries have never signed the treaty.
"It has to be a serious concern that India, Pakistan and Israel have chosen to remain outside the NPT regime. I would again urge all three countries to accede unconditionally at an early date," he said.