John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, it also marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima in August of this year marked the day Ireland ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Those two events, 75 years apart, stand in stark contrast to each other, one an abiding and horrific testimony to the destructive capacity inherent in nuclear weapons, so much more powerful than the atomic weapons that preceded them, the other a reminder of the capacity of the international community to come together in a spirit of co-operation to address, along with the challenge of climate change, a threat to our continued existence as a species. Japanese casualty estimates for the atomic blast in 1945 suggest that just under 250,000 people died following the bombing, many from the explosion itself and many more from the effects of burns, radiation sickness and cancers arising from the bombing. While it is argued that the attack on Hiroshima, coupled with the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, brought about the Japanese surrender that ended the Second World War, the events have left an indelible mark on our collective global conscience. All sane people are certain of the need to ensure that the world is never again exposed to the horror witnessed in Japan.

Today all legislators and lawmakers of every hue and creed carry this warning from history with them, and since that fateful day in 1945 nuclear and atomic weapons have been detonated on more than 2,000 occasions for testing and demonstrative purposes, and the damage caused to the environment has been devastating. In 2017 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute stated that there were approximately 14,456 nuclear weapons in the world. This shows just how much work remains to be done on the issue of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. No other arms limitation treaty has achieved the level of support of the non-proliferation treaty. There are only five nations that have refused to sign up to the agreement. Four are known to possess nuclear weapons: North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan, nations and regions which represent some of the most violent areas on our planet.

Our country, small as it is, has had a proud history on the international stage of offering opposition to nuclear proliferation. In 1958 Ireland introduced at the UN the first of what became known as the Irish resolutions. This initiative culminated in the adoption of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, NPT, and Ireland was the first country to sign the NPT in 1968. Our nation's endorsement of a humanitarian pledge to work with others to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons played a role in building momentum towards the holding of the negotiations that led to the treaty.

We must continue to support efforts to curb the emergence of new nuclear states and to regulate and police the four countries that have developed nuclear weaponry since 1967. As Ireland prepares to take its place on the UN Security Council, it is an appropriate moment for the Government to commit to using that membership to continue the work to bring an end to the weapons of devastation.

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