I will sketch out briefly some of the background material which has informed Ireland's position. The treaty was signed on 1 December 1959 in Washington DC by 12 nations. Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States were the signatories with the primary intention of ensuring, in the interest of all mankind, that Antarctica should continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and should not become the scene or object of international discord. The treaty came into force in 1961.