Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tacaíonn mise leis, agus fáiltíonn mo pháirtí roimh, an mBille um Thoirmeasc ar Airm Núicléacha 2019. Táim den tuairim go nglacfar leis d'aon ghuth sa Teach seo agus sa Seanad. Tá súil agam nach seasfaidh aon dhuine sna hinstitiúidí seo i gcoinne an Bhille seo agus an fáth gur cuireadh os ár gcomhair é. Tugann an Bille seo an deis d'Éirinn a bheith ina pháirtí de chonradh na Náisiún Aontaithe um thoirmeasc ar airm núicléacha. Déanann sé forálacha an chonartha sin dleathach sa Stát. Is gá dúinn an domhan a shaoradh ó airm núicléacha. Ba chóir dúinn é sin a chothú. Ba chóir go ndéanfaimis cinnte, ag an am céanna, go saoródh an domhan ó airm ceimice agus airm ollscriosta. Ba chóir go leanfaidh Éire a bheith chun tosaigh agus ag tabhairt ceannaireachta i ngnéithe den dí-armáil agus dímhíleatú timpeall an domhain, mar atá déanta againn go dtí seo. Tréaslaím leis an Aire Stáit sa chás seo. Tá sé chun tosaigh agus rinne sé cinnte go mbeadh an Bille seo os ár gcomhair chomh tapa is atá sé tar éis síniú an chonartha dhá bhliain ó shin. Go minic tógann sé na blianta sula shroicheann conarthaí idirnáisiúnta urlár an Tí seo. Uaireanta ní thagann siad ar chor ar bith. Sa chás seo, tá an Rialtas tar éis déanamh cinnte de go mbeadh sé os ár gcomhair inniu.

Chomh maith sin, níor chóir go ndéanfaimis dearmad ar dóibh siúd a fuair bás nó ar gortaíodh iad nuair a mbaineadh úsáid as buamaí núicléacha timpeall an domhain. Déanaim tagairt go háirithe don slad sa tSeapáin ag deireadh an Dara Cogadh Domhanda agus don damáiste a rinneadh don timpeallacht leis an slad sin. Ba chóir go ndéanfaimis cinnte de go dtuigeann an pobal in Éirinn, agus mórthimpeall an domhain, go bhfuil muid ag cosaint na glúnta atá romhainn nuair a achtaíonn muid leithéidí an Bhille seo agus nuair a dtugann muid tacaíocht dóibh.

Arís, molaim ní hamháin an Rialtas, ach gach duine atá ceangailte leis an obair chun cinnte a dhéanamh de go mbeadh an conradh seo os ár gcomhair. Níl mé chomh soineanta chun creidiúint go síneoidh gach uile thír an conradh seo, ach measaim go gcuireann sé leis na dlíthe idirnáisiúnta agus leis an mbrú ar na tíortha a bhfuil airm núicléacha fós acu. Tugann sé ardú meanman do na tíortha agus do na daoine atá tar éis feachtas a dhéanamh i gcoinne an tslí inar d'fhás an t-armlón núicléach timpeall an domhain ó deireadh an Dara Cogadh Domhanda ar aghaidh.

Sinn Féin supports and welcomes the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill. I imagine that it will receive the unanimous support of this House and the Seanad. The Bill will enable Ireland to become a state party to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and will give effect to the provisions of the treaty in Irish law. The treaty prohibits participation in a range of activities relating to the transfer, development and use of nuclear weapons. As I said as Gaeilge, this is welcome and something every country should agree to.

Nuclear weapons threaten the very existence of the human race and life on this planet. People have become mobilised in recent times over concern for the very existence of life on the planet because of climate change. The use of nuclear weapons in one day could bring that about much quicker than many people have contemplated for many years. The effects of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are forgotten by some, hopefully not most. Some people have a conspiracy theory about it. In some ways, new generations have not fully seen the effects. Those effects should be brought home to every schoolchild and every part of society. Once a year, the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament holds a commemoration for those who died because of the use of nuclear weapons. People need to be reminded of the full scale of devastation that nuclear weapons can bring about. We need to create a world free from nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Ireland must be a global leader in demilitarisation and disarmament, as it has been in the past. In this debate we should commemorate and remember all the victims and survivors of nuclear weapons. Two nuclear weapons have been used in war. They were the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US military in 1945. These two bombs killed 120,000 civilians and flattened both cities. They have had a devastating effect on many generations since. The bombs were deployed to kill as many civilians as possible. This was a war crime and its effects are still felt today.

It should never have happened and the deployment of nuclear weapons should have ended there. Regrettably the opposite happened. Throughout the Cold War we saw a massive proliferation of nuclear weapons. This was and remains an existential threat to humanity. Nuclear weapons have been detonated on over 2,000 occasions for testing purposes and demonstrations. This has created huge environmental damage which we do not fully appreciate or understand. Maybe future generations will be able to calculate the full effect of that damage. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that in 2017 there were approximately 14,465 nuclear weapons in the world, 14,465 Hiroshimas. Think of all those weapons going off at one time. That is what a nuclear war would entail. They all need to be destroyed and put beyond use.

The cornerstone of international efforts to begin nuclear disarmament is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, known as the NPT. This divided countries into nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states. The NPT provides for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons for countries without nuclear weapons and creates obligations on countries with nuclear weapons to negotiate an agreement leading to complete verifiable nuclear disarmament. Ireland has been at the forefront of developments in relation to nuclear disarmament and it was one of the first signatories of the NPT. This is worthy of remembrance and a proud moment in Irish history.

However, the NPT also has significant weaknesses. It allowed the USA, Britain, Russia, France, and China to keep their nuclear arsenals and cemented them as legitimate nuclear weapons holders. No country should legitimately or legally be allowed to stock, develop or use nuclear weapons. The NPT also failed to stop India, Pakistan, South Africa, Israel and North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. South Africa thankfully destroyed its nuclear weapons arsenal when the apartheid regime was coming to an end. Others should follow its lead. Additionally, the NPT has been used and abused for political means. Two nuclear states, the USA which has signed it, and Israel, which has not signed it and continues to lie and deny its nuclear weapons programme, forcibly stopped Iran's attempts to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes, which is its right under international law. Essentially Iran, a signatory of the NPT, was stopped from developing nuclear technology for civilian purposes by countries that have nuclear weapons and those who have refused to sign the NPT.

The years of sanctions on Iran, despite it opening up its nuclear technology and nuclear sites to international investigation, has done significant damage to the NPT among countries which have signed and abided by it. This is especially the case with the hypocrisy from Israel, the only nuclear armed state in the Middle East. A deal was correctly done in 2015 to lift sanctions and allow Iran its right to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes but the Trump Administration recklessly tore up this progressive and positive agreement under pressure from the Israeli Government.

To date 70 countries have signed the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and 26 states have ratified or acceded to it. I hope Ireland will be the twenty-seventh because I cannot see anybody in these Houses objecting to it. In order to come into effect, signature and ratification by at least 50 countries is required. When he is wrapping up can the Minister of State say how many countries are going through the process now so that we will have some idea when we have ratified and acceded to it that there are another 23 who would quickly come in too and it would take full effect, having been ratified by 50?

I welcome the fact that this Treaty provides for extensive prohibitions relating to the development, testing, producing, manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, transferring or receiving control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. The preamble of the Treaty sets out some of the general principles and policies. It specifically acknowledges the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and girls. This is very welcome and it builds on the increasing focus on how women and girls are disproportionately affect by conflict and the historic UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

Article 1 of the treaty sets out a comprehensive list of prohibited activities in respect of nuclear weapons. This includes prohibitions on activities relating to the development, production, use or threat of use, testing, transfer and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Article 4 sets out the disarmament requirements of nuclear weapon possessing States.

I also want to draw attention to Article 6 which concerns victim assistance and environmental remediation. Article 6(1) provides that state parties must provide victim assistance to individuals under their jurisdiction who have been affected by nuclear weapons use or testing. Such assistance should include age and gender sensitive assistance and provide for the social and economic inclusion of victims. Article 6(2) requires state parties to take remediation measures in respect of areas within their jurisdiction which have been contaminated by activities relating to nuclear weapons testing or use. This is important considering the huge human suffering and environmental damage that the use and testing of nuclear weapons has created.

Those articles are key to the environmental rehabilitation of the islands or nation states that have allowed the testing or that have been forced or bullied into that by the US in particular but also by China and Britain among other countries. They are also key to an acknowledgement of and financial support for the victims and whole communities who have suffered the consequences, some of whom were moved off the islands to allow for destruction by these weapons. Unlike the NPT, for nuclear armed states joining this treaty, they will have a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.

The treaty is therefore a well-written and important one in the fight for nuclear disarmament, but it has yet to get the international buy-in that it deserves and needs. We hope that it will well exceed the minimum buy-in required. It continues to be strongly opposed by countries that possess nuclear weapons. Not only do they oppose the treaty, but they are modernising their nuclear arsenals and many Cold War bilateral treaties between the USA and Russia have been rubbished or are severely under threat. The slow pace of developments within the NPT framework in relation to nuclear disarmament shows just how important this treaty is.

In response to the treaty three of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the USA, Britain, and France, released a joint press statement in which they argue against this treaty and nuclear disarmament. They said that in their opinion this treaty does not contribute to the development of international law. That statement is contrary to the development of international law. Unsurprisingly, all three of them have significant nuclear arsenals. There is something fundamentally wrong with the UN system when all five permanent members of the UN Security Council have huge amounts of nuclear weapons.

In conclusion, I again state my support for this treaty, for Ireland becoming a signatory and for this Bill to give effect to the provisions of the treaty in Irish law. While the treaty is not binding on states which are not a party to it and we have a long race to run until we reach full global nuclear disarmament, this treaty remains an important step in achieving nuclear disarmament.

In parallel with support for the treaty, the Government should stop its erosion of Irish neutrality and oppose the further militarisation of the EU. It is not good enough to oppose nuclear weapons while we remain part of NATO's so-called Partnership for Peace, aligning ourselves to countries that have snubbed their noses at the achievement of nuclear disarmament. We need to look into our own souls to see what steps we can take to prevent the further militarisation of Europe. We cannot on the one hand chastise countries in Europe that stockpile and develop nuclear weapons while on the other hand join EU battle groups with those same countries and silently move towards creating a standing EU army with the very countries that hold dearly to the weapons of mass destruction that are nuclear weapons.

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