IRELAND STILL NON-COMMITTAL ON U.S.-INDIA NUCLEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 001334 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2015 TAGS: PREL PARM KNNP IN EI SUBJECT: IRELAND STILL NON-COMMITTAL ON U.S.-INDIA NUCLEAR COOPERATION REF: A. STATE 190856 ¶B. DUBLIN 1152 Classified By: Political-Economic Counselor Mary E. Daly; Reasons 1.4 ( B) and (D). ¶1. (C) On October 26, Post delivered ref A demarche to Therese Healy, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) First Secretary for Disarmament and Nonproliferation, who was an SIPDIS Irish delegate at the October 19-20 NSG Consultative Group (CG) meeting in Vienna. Healy noted that the Irish Government had not yet taken a position on proposed U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation, notwithstanding welcome presentations on the initiative from the U.S. delegation at the CG meeting. She explained that Ireland would defer taking a position pending a U.S. proposal on the sequencing of steps envisaged in the initiative, encompassing, most importantly, the measures by which India would separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities. She hoped the proposal would be forthcoming at a CG meeting to be scheduled possibly in March, ahead of the May/June Plenary. ¶2. (C) Healy observed that Ireland currently fell somewhere between, on one hand, France/UK, which supported the initiative, and, on the other, Austria/Sweden, which had serious reservations. The Irish Government's principal concern remained the initiative's potential impact on the NPT and NSG guidelines (ref B). She added that, absent fuller details on sequencing, there had not been an opportunity for discussion among Member State representatives at the CG meeting on a possible common EU position. Healy also highlighted other NSG members' hopes that India would take steps beyond the proposed initiative, such as halting the production of fissile material and acceding to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. KENNY