Nuclear Ban Treaty needed more than ever in an uncertain world

The third Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of NuclearWeapons gets underway at the United Nations in New York on 3^rd March 2025. Civil society organisations will also participate in events during Nuclear Ban Week, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), of which Irish CND is a member. 

Photo: ICAN

Nuclear-armed states remain engaged in deadly conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East. Rhetoric around the possible use of nuclear weapons in these conflicts has been deeply regrettable, and risks lowering the bar to a dangerous level in discourse on the acceptability of using so-called tactical nuclear weapons, many of which are far more powerful than the bombs which annihilated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The weaponisation of nuclear facilities likewise casts a frightening shadow of potential destruction.

Nuclear-armed states are pouring vast sums of money into modernising and expanding their deadly arsenals. The United States, in contravention of its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), continues to station nuclear warheads in Europe. Russia has recently followed suit by moving nuclear arms to neighbouring Belarus. Preparations are reportedly underway for the return of American nuclear weapons to the UK. 

In January 2025, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest point to symbolic doom it has ever represented. Their in-depth analysis of the nuclear threat stated: “Longstanding concerns about nuclear weapons—involving the modernization and expansion of arsenals in all nuclear weapons countries, the build-up of new capabilities, the risks of inadvertent or deliberate nuclear use, the loss of arms control agreements, and the possibility of nuclear proliferation to new countries—continued or were amplified in 2024.” The increasing threats from climate change, biological risks and disruptive technologies all likewise fed into the Bulletin’s negative appraisal.

Even in this bleak scenario, there is hope.

The TPNW explicitly outlaws nuclear weapons, and has now been signed or ratified by almost half the UN membership. The Treaty sets out a clear framework on advancing nuclear disarmament as required by Article 6 of the NPT, and contains vital provisions for victim assistance and environmental remediation, recognising the disproportionate harm caused by nuclear weapons and related activities on women and girls, and on indigenous peoples.

Work on progressing these aspects of the Treaty, as well as on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, the compatibility of the Treaty with the NPT (an area headed up by Ireland), and the fallacy of nuclear deterrence will be among the themes discussed during the meeting.

Recent research by ICAN and PAX has shown that the stigmatisation of nuclear weapons since the entry into force of the TPNW in 2021 has prompted a marked drop-off in financial institutions investing in companies directly involved in the nuclear weapons industry, with a 23% reduction over less than four years. Both AIB and Bank of Ireland are listed among more than 100 institutions whose investment policies now explicitly exclude nuclear weapons companies. The exclusion of nuclear weapons in their current investment policies reflects the impact of Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Act (2019), which gave effect to the provisions of the TPNW in Irish law.

A proposal to establish an expert panel to examine the potential effects of nuclear war, put forward by Ireland and New Zealand, was overwhelmingly approved by the UN General Assembly in 2024. Work on this expert report is expected to get underway this year, with the report due in 2027. This will be the first report of its kind for several decades, and should serve as a timely reminder of inevitable annihilation that would be intrinsic to nuclear war.

Several times since returning to power in the United States, President Donald Trump has outlined his intention to engage in nuclear disarmament negotiations with Russia and China “in a very big way.” Referring to the costs of the nuclear weapons programme, he spoke of how this represents “spending a lot of money that we could be spending on things that are actually hopefully much more productive.” Considering the possibility that nuclear weapons might ever be used, he concluded his comments with “That’s going to be a very sad day. That’s going to be probably oblivion.”

Campaigners and non-nuclear states having been saying this clearly for decades, so it is encouraging to hear the leader of the country with one of the world’s largest caches of nuclear arms speak in such terms. We hope that his counterparts in Russia and China – and in the other nuclear-armed states – will join him and will match words with actions.

If President Trump is indeed serious about nuclear disarmament, then there is already a clear pathway to that goal, through engaging with the TPNW processes and verifiably putting nuclear weapons out of existence. The USA spent $51.5 billion dollars on nuclear weapons in 2023, over half of the total outlay among nine nuclear-armed states of more than $91billion. It does not take either a genius or a president to work out that such vast amounts of money could and should be spent on things that are, in President Trump’s words, “much more productive”.

There is hope.

Nihon Hidankyo awarded 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese Confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers Organizations, with the award presented at the annual ceremony in Oslo on 10^th December. The ceremony, including the Nobel Lecture delivered by Terumi Tanaka, can be viewed online here.

The award recognizes Nihon Hidankyo, in the words of the Nobel Committee, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

Despite immense personal suffering as a result of the impact of the bombs that annihilated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, survivors of the blasts have borne unfailing witness to the horrific humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons. Their experience and advocacy stand out in the struggle to rid the world of these merciless weapons of mass destruction.

The Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament congratulates Nihon Hidankyo on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, recognizing the power of their courage and determination in exposing the ghastly truth about nuclear weapons, often while battling the personal scars of ill-health, social stigma and advancing age.  

No nuclear weapon has been used in nearly 80 years, but today the number of nuclear-armed and nuclear-capable states is growing. Nuclear arsenals across three continents are being modernized at vast expense.

International treaties limiting nuclear arms stocks have been ended or shelved. Discussions on the future of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, for long considered the bedrock of a supposedly safe nuclear order, broke up earlier this year without agreement.

Bellicose rhetoric invoking the real possibility of the use of nuclear weapons – taboo for many years – has become an all-too-frequent feature of statements by politicians in nuclear-armed states, including Russia and the United States, who still hold over 90% of the global nuclear stockpile.

Even the so-called smaller “tactical” nuclear weapons of today are generally more powerful, more destructive than those which inflicted such destruction on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly 80 years ago.

If nuclear weapons are ever used again, the scale of destruction will inevitably be far greater than that which caused such suffering to the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Far too many “near-misses” have already been documented. While nuclear warheads remain ready to fire, life on earth as we know it remains just minutes away from an apocalyptic end.

We have been dependent on luck to avoid that fate for too long. Sooner or later, whether through malice, machismo, miscalculation or malfunction, that luck will run out.

Twice in the past decade, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to an organization highlighting the horror of nuclear warfare and calling for an end to nuclear weapons. In 2017, the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN, of which Irish CND is a member), also received the award for its work, particularly its efforts to create an international treaty explicitly outlawing nuclear weapons, which came into force in 2021 as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The voices of those who survived the atomic bombs of 1945, invoking in turn the silence of the hundreds of thousands more who did not survive, need to be heard more than ever today.

We cannot afford not to listen.

Irish CND, together with our colleagues across the world working for the abolition of nuclear arms, calls on all states to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We call on the leaders of nuclear-armed states, in particular, to heed the call of those who have experienced the utter depravity of nuclear warfare, and to put their countries’ stocks of nuclear warheads out of use forever.

Hiroshima remembered, 79 years on

Seventy-nine years on from the bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, Irish CND commemorated the horrific events of the first use of an atomic bomb. The ceremony of words and music took place at the memorial cherry tree, planted by Irish CND in 1980, in Merrion Square Park in Dublin. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Lord Mayor Donna Cooney highlighted how the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock has again been set at 90 seconds to midnight for 2024, the closest to the symbolic point of destruction it has ever been. She noted that this decision was influenced by the gravity of the threat posed by both nuclear war and climate change, and called for decisive action to reverse both these existential threats: "Both nuclear weapons and climate change are manmade threats to life as we know it. The power to limit, to reverse and to undo these threats lies in our hands also."

She also stated Dublin's commitment to the vision of Mayors for Peace, chaired by the Mayor of Hiroshima. She paid tribute to Ireland's role in working internationally for nuclear disarmament, noting in particular Ireland's contribution to bringing both the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1970) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2021) into being, recognising the role of an explicit ban in "stigmatising and de-legitimising the possession of nuclear weapons." 

Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Donna Cooney, speaks at the Hiroshima Commemoration, watched by the Japanese Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Norio Maruyama.

Irish CND vice-president, Adi Roche (CEO of Chernobyl Children International), powerfully evoked the horrors of the bombing, and of any future nuclear conflict. She strongly criticised the obscene levels of military spending by nuclear-armed states: "The people of the world have played the ultimate price with hunger, poverty, homelessness, unemployment and of course environmental degradation, while the big powers have endless funding for militarism and the development of weapons such as nuclear weapons, while on the other hand slashing the budgets for building schools, hospitals, healthcare, housing, and creating employment." 

She praised the international contribution Ireland has been able to make as a neutral country, through its diplomatic roles and through its participation in UN peacekeeping operations, and called for the protection and constructive development of Ireland's neutrality. 

Referring to the spectre of war in today's world, she decried the disturbance caused to radioactive soil by Russian military movements through the Chernobyl region, and the potential for an unprecedented nuclear disaster through the weaponisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

Irish CND vice-president, Adi Roche, addresses the commemoration. 

Despite the seriousness of the current situation in Ukraine, the Middle East and in other parts of the world torn by violence, her message concluded with an urgent positive appeal to the power of love and reconciliation to overcome even the deepest divisions: a challenge for all those present to take away and put into action. 

The Japanese ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency Mr Norio Maruyama, spoke of Japan's unique role in pursuing a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, as the only country to have suffered the trauma of atomic bombing. He received warm applause in response to his announcement that the Mayor of Hiroshima would visit Ireland in October, the first time such a visit has taken place. 

Representatives of some of Ireland's partner countries in working for nuclear disarmament were also in attendance, with diplomats from Austria, Egypt, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as from the Disarmament Unit in the Department of Foreign Affairs, present at the ceremony.  

Poet Eriko Tsugawa gave a moving bilingual performance of her poem, Hiroshima, Not This Way, and contributions from traditional accordionist Máire Ní Bheaglaíoch gave musical expression to the sombre remembrance of all victims of atomic and nuclear testing and bombing. The ceremony concluded with the laying of a wreath by Deputy Lord Mayor Cooney, and the observation of a minute's silence. 

Ambassador Maruyama, Deputy Lord Mayor Cooney, Irish CND vice-president Adi Roche, and Irish CND chairperson David Hutchinson Edgar at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square. 

Can we step back from the brink?

The dark shadow of the possibility of nuclear war looms more grimly than perhaps ever before. Russian nuclear weapons are now stationed in Belarus. Plans to resume the stationing of US nuclear weapons in the UK have been widely reported. Spending on nuclear weapons reached more than $90 billion last year, a shocking new high. Nuclear weapons states are all engaged in modernising their arsenals and delivery systems. We've heard bellicose rhetoric about the potential use of nuclear weapons from government representatives in Israel and Russia, and from Republican lawmakers in the United States. 

It would only take a moment of madness to plunge the world into an irreversible nuclear war. Can we step back from the brink?

We must meet darkness with positive hope and determination. 

This year we mark the 79th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which took place on 6th August 1945. Irish CND will be hosting the customary annual commemoration in Merrion Square in Dublin. The ceremony will take place at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square Park, at 1.10 p.m. 

There will be short speeches by Deputy Lord Mayor Donna Cooney, Japanese ambassador Mr Norio Maruyama, and Irish CND vice-president Adi Roche (CEO of Chernobyl Children International). There will also be contributions of music and poetry, and a wreath of flowers will be laid at the tree at the close of the commemoration. 

An estimated 80,000 people were directly killed by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, with casualties reaching 140,000 by the end of the year. Approximately 14,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world today, enough to destroy life on earth as we know it many times over. 

Wherever you are, even if you are not in a position to join us in person this year, please do join us in spirit to stand in solidarity with the victims of these horrific weapons of mass destruction, and to affirm our determination to work for their elimination, the only way to ensure that the ghastly events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will not be repeated.

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima commemorated in Dublin

The annual commemoration for the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb took place at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square Park, Dublin, on Sunday, 6th August 2023, the 78th anniversary of the bombing. Despite torrential rain during the ceremony, over 70 people gathered to remember all those affected by nuclear testing and weapons, and to affirm their determination that such an atrocity must never happen again.

Welcoming those in attendance, Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, paid tribute to the leading roles in working internationally for nuclear disarmament played by Austria, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, whose ambassadors were present. He noted Ireland's partnership with countries such as these in the New Agenda Coalition, which has recently submitted a strong working paper aimed at breaking what some see as the current stalemate in disarmament negotiations, "Taking Forward Nuclear Disarmament," at the United Nations. He praised Austria's role as host of the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and acknowledged the vision for a world free of nuclear weapons put forward by Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, in the context of the G7 meeting in Hiroshima earlier this year.

Ambassadors from Austria, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa joined representation from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, together with Irish CND Chairperson David Hutchinson Edgar, Japanese Ambassador Norio Maruyama and Dublin City Councillor Danny Byrne, who spoke at the ceremony.

Cllr Danny Byrne, representing Dublin City, reminded the audience of the horrors that struck Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, when approximately 80,000 people were annihilated instantly, with casualities reaching 140,000 within a year. He highlighted how each casualty represented not a number, but "human lives with the right to dignity, all terminated by ... the immeasurable brutality of the atomic bomb." He noted that Dublin was the first Irish city to join Mayors For Peace, co-founded by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and re-affirmed Dublin's commitment to the vision of Mayors For Peace: a world free of nuclear weapons, safe and resilient cities, and promoting a culture of peace. Cllr Byrne laid a wreath on behalf of the people of Dublin at the end of the ceremony. 

Cllr Danny Byrne laid a wreath at the memorial tree on behalf of the people of Dublin.

In a recorded message, Irish CND vice-president, Adi Roche, spoke of the threat to life on earth posed both by nuclear weapons and by the weaponisation of civil nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and decried the massive waste of resources represented by nuclear weapons: "Because of the billions spent on weapons development and production, the people of the world have paid the ultimate cost through hunger, poverty, homelessness, unemployment, environmental degradation, while the big powers have endless funding for militarism and nuclear weapons." She praised the positive contributions of Ireland's policy of active neutrality and called for the use of "the power of our intellect, diplomatic abilities and our negotiating talents to bring an end to the current war in Ukraine and beyond."

His Excellency Mr Norio Maruyama, Japanese ambassador to Ireland, reflected on Japan's unique responsibility in relation to nuclear disarmament as the only country which has suffered an atomic bomb attack. He spoke of Prime Minister Kishida's initiative to promote nuclear disarmament among his colleagues in the G7 group of countries, and reiterated Japan's determination to keep working until nuclear weapons have been eliminated. 

Japanese ambassador, His Excellency Mr Norio Maruyama, spoke through heavy rain at the ceremony.

Musicians Máire Ní Bheaglaíoch (accordion) and Philip Horan (Japanese flute) contributed several pieces of reflective traditional music during the ceremony, which for many of those present, expressed a depth of feeling beyond words in response to the horror of nuclear weapons. Misato Omori read the poem, "That's my home", by Ukrainian poet Anastasia Afanasieva, reflecting on the personal impact of the horrors of war. 

Misato Omori read the poem "That's my home," by Anastasia Afanasieva.

Approximately 14,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world today, with just under 2,000 ready to fire within minutes, more than enough to destroy life on earth as we know it many times over. We call on all people to stand in solidarity with the victims of these horrific weapons of mass destruction, and to affirm our determination to work for their elimination, the only way to ensure that the ghastly events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be repeated. 

Oppenheimer: Hollywood looks at the origins of nuclear weapons

One of 2023's most anticipated and most heavily advertised movies, Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, recreates the role of its title character in the development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. 

For some, this is an epic feat of cinematic storytelling; for others, the marriage of mass entertainment with the story of the origin of weapons of mass destruction sits somewhat uncomfortably. 

There seem to be two main sub-categories of war movies today, both of which condense the vast horror of 20th century industrial-scale warfare through the lens of a personal narrative. One type focuses on the exploits of the plucky little guy, the challenges faced by the ordinary soldier (like Saving Private Ryan, 1917 or Nolan's earlier work, Dunkirk), while the other is centred on the troubled famous person whose decisions have far-reaching consequences (like Oppenheimer, Enigma or Darkest Hour). 

With this focus on one person's story, there is much that any movie must leave untold, and that has inevitably provided one of broad areas of criticism of Nolan's Oppenheimer. The views, indeed the work, of other scientists appear as a backdrop to those of the central character. Female characters are little more than a foil to illustrate the personal struggles of the male protagonist in a male-dominated world. Residents of the area around the test site are barely mentioned. The depiction of the impact of the explosion - heat, light, sound, radiation - while dramatic, is tame compared to what it would really have been. The myth that the bombing ended the war (by no means certain) is perpetuated. 

Perhaps most seriously, the shattering real-life humanitarian impact of the use of the atomic bomb is never explicitly shown, though it is briefly alluded to. 80,000 people were annihilated in Hiroshima, and another 60,000 in Nagasaki, with many thousands more suffering horrific injuries leading to their deaths in the subsequent months and years. 

Both through its successes (the complex portrayal of its main character, and his growing deep unease with the bomb project) and its shortcomings, the film provokes reflection on the exploitation of scientific knowledge for purposes of destruction, and in particular, on the threat to life on earth as we know it posed by nuclear weapons. As we approach the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the urgency of creating a world free of nuclear weapons has never been greater or more apparent. 

Here is a short selection of further resources discussing the significance of Oppenheimer: 

Everyone can help forge a safe ending to what Oppenheimer began by Prof. Tilman Ruff of the University of Melbourne, Past President of IPPNW and co-founding member of ICAN, published by the University of Melbourne 

Architect of Annihilation: Oppenheimer's Deadly Legacy of Nuclear Terror by Klee Benally, Indigenous Action

Facts and Myths about Oppenheimer compiled by ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Post-Oppenheimer: What We Should Do To Dismantle Nuclear Weapons by Prof. Ivan Nikolić Hughes of Columbia University, President of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 

Annual commemoration of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 6th August

The annual commemoration for the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb took place on Saturday, 6th August 2022, the 77th anniversary of the bombing, at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square park, Dublin 2.

Opening the ceremony, Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin Darcy Lonergan spoke of the need for hope in the face of a world once again threatened by the possibility of nuclear war. She praised the work of Irish diplomats over the years for their key role in bringing both the Non-Proliferation Treaty and, more recently, the treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to reality. 

Deputy Lord Mayor Darcy Lonergan speaking at the 2022 Hiroshima commemoration ceremony.

Mr Mitsuru Kitano, the Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, noted that the current prime minister of Japan comes from Hiroshima, and cited Prime Minister Kishida's recent reiteration, at the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference at the United Nations, of Japan's commitment to working for a world without nuclear weapons. 

The Japanese ambassador to Ireland, Mr Mitsuru Kitano, addressing the annual Hiroshima commemoration in Merrion Square. 

The President of Irish CND, Canon Patrick Comerford, was unable to attend, and Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, read out a short reflection by Canon Comerford in his absence. 

Traditional musician Máire Ní Bheaglaíoch contributed several pieces of reflective music on the accordion, and poet Eriko Tsugawa read her poem, "Lull in the rain", the title poem from her collection which received the Hideo Oguma Japanese Poetry Award this year. 

Irish CND Chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, spoke of the importance of meeting the threat of nuclear weapons and the reality of violence in the world today with a strong voice for peace and hope, quoting the closing words of the Vienna Declaration, agreed at the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in June 2022:

"We have no illusions about the challenges and obstacles that lie before us in realizing the aims of this Treaty. But we move ahead with optimism and resolve. In the face of the catastrophic risks posed by nuclear weapons and in the interest of the very survival of humanity, we cannot do otherwise. We will take every path that is open to us, and work persistently to open those that are still closed. We will not rest until the last state has joined the Treaty, the last warhead has been dismantled and destroyed and nuclear weapons have been totally eliminated from the Earth."

At the close of the ceremony, the Deputy Lord Mayor laid a wreath at the base of the cherry tree, followed by the observation of a minute's silence in memory of all victims of atomic and nuclear bombing and testing.