Minister for Foreign Affairs on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 to the IAEA and Dr. ElBaradei

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern T.D., today warmly welcomed the announcement by the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared in equal parts between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei.

“Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and his staff at the IAEA are thoroughly deserving recipients for this award.   Sixty years after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the challenges facing the global non-proliferation regime are more pressing than ever before.  The international community is indebted to the IAEA for the vital role it is playing in monitoring compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as for its other essential work related to the safety and security of nuclear energy.”

“Ireland has a particularly close association with the NPT, the most universal of all the multilateral instruments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation.  It was one of my predecessors, Frank Aiken, who first put forward a proposal for such a Treaty.  One of our highest priorities in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation has been support for efforts to strengthen the Treaty and to ensure full respect for all its provisions”

“It is a matter of regret that the critical role played by the IAEA safeguards system in the global non-proliferation regime was not reinforced during the 2005 Review Conference of the NPT, which took place last May.  This would have been a major vindication of the efforts of Dr. ElBaradei and his staff.  I hope that the international community will redouble its efforts to achieve the goals which we set for ourselves on that occasion. 

“Since becoming a member of the IAEA more than thirty years ago, Ireland has observed how the Agency has moved from being a relatively unknown body to being a trusted institution.  Much of this change has taken place under the professional and capable leadership of Dr. ElBaradei. He and his colleagues deserve our warmest congratulations.”

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Press Section
7 October 2005