Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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1168. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to support targets for the elimination of the 17,000 Nuclear Weapons in the World today; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30651/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has long been a leading voice in the field of nuclear disarmament, since our introduction of the ‘Irish Resolutions’ at the UN in the late fifties which led to the negotiation of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). I addressed the NPT Review Conference on its opening day on the 27th of April in New York this year in order to highlight Ireland’s continuing strong commitment to nuclear disarmament and met with a number of delegations on that occasion to consolidate and build support for our approach. It is a matter of great regret that, despite strenuous efforts, including by Ireland, the 2015 NPT Review Conference ended without an agreed outcome document.

Disarmament and non-proliferation remains one of Ireland’s signature foreign policies, and I intend to continue working actively for the ultimate goal of a world free from nuclear weapons. We work toward this goal with civil society groups, like minded nations, and particularly through our membership of the New Agenda Coalition (NAC), a cross-regional group of States which are committed to promoting urgent progress on nuclear disarmament.

Since the NPT was signed in 1970, Ireland has emphasised the urgent need to pursue effective measures for nuclear disarmament. The more we know about nuclear weapons, the more we understand that any detonation would be catastrophic in terms of environmental impact. More importantly, it would create a humanitarian crisis beyond the capacity of the world to respond to.

This summer marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and the scenes of devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ireland is part of the core group leading the humanitarian drive to ensure these weapons are never used again. This drive has been given greater impetus by conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, each laying out the risks and consequences of even a limited nuclear exchange.

The ‘Humanitarian Pledge’, endorsed at the Review Conference by 159 States, including Ireland, asserts that nuclear weapons must never be used again under any circumstances and that the only way of ensuring this is through their total elimination.

Ireland’s final statement to the Review Conference recalled our commitment to nuclear disarmament and our belief that effective measures for the implementation of Article VI of the NPT are required as a matter of urgency. Ireland will now pursue this commitment at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.