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.