Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, I support the Bill and would like it to be even stronger, if possible. That said, I have concerns. While we are all agreed on the prohibition of nuclear weapons which are weapons of mass destruction, there seems to be an open field for the arms industry generally and the weapons produced that cause massive, rather than mass, destruction. It is all very well to agree on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, but the bigger picture must be addressed. This is particularly the case when one looks at the finance involved in the arms industry. When I was speaking to the Bill in the Dáil Chamber, I mentioned some figures which included the $1.74 trillion spent on arms in 2017. In the European Union alone, military spending is €260 billion per annum. Apparently, it will take another $1 trillion to modernise the nuclear weapons capacity of the nine countries that have nuclear weapons. While we are passing this legislation, supporting its provisions and asking that it be as strong as possible, we must be mindful of what is happening in the wider context. There are a number of rather volatile world leaders who like to play war games with each other. We are depending on them to behave rationally, but I am not sure if we can put too much store in that happening. Of course, the countries that hold nuclear weapons will not agree with the treaty because they want to retain these weapons. In that context, a lot more work needs to be done.

I have a question about divestment in companies that produce nuclear weapons. Three countries in Europe have divested from them completely. Ireland has divested from three of the 26 companies in which it has investments. As we did in the case of fossil fuels, we must work on this issue too.