Mr. Chairman,

Ireland fully associates itself with the statement made on behalf of the European Union and associated states.

I would also like to begin with a reference to the events of 11 September. The terrorists who carried out those heinous crimes are a threat to us all, and show no respect for international law or human life. Ireland has shown and will continue to show solidarity with the victims of such terror and with efforts to bring the terrorists to justice. As has been said on behalf of the European Union, we believe that multilateral approaches to disarmament and nonproliferation are now even more indispensable than ever to prevent terrorists from having access to ever more terrible means of inflicting harm. I welcome the fact that we have chosen to proceed with this Conference. It is important to demonstrate that we will not allow ourselves be deflected from our objectives by those who intimidate or inflict injury and death. We also wish to reiterate the importance we attach to the early entry into force of the Treaty.

This conference is an important opportunity to reaffirm the international community's support for the full implementation of the CTBT, an instrument devoted to achieving greater peace and security. A nuclear test ban contributes to non-proliferation as well as disarmament and prevents further damage to the environment from the intense heat and radiation of successive nuclear blasts. The 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which it should be noted is a post cold war Treaty, remains central in our efforts to achieve nuclear disarmament. The Treaty is an egalitarian instrument - it imposes the samre obligations upon all States Parties and provides the same access to its verification mechanisms.

As an example of the importance of the CTBT in the field of nuclear disarmament, we might recall that the Non-Proliferation Treaty was extended indefinitely in 1995 with the widespread understanding that there would be a renewed commitment by the major nuclear weapons powers to conclude and implement the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In 2000, at the NPT Review Conference, 187 States agreed on the importance and urgency of the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The CTBT can also help to reduce dangerous nuclear arms competition between the states which are nuclear capable, by curbing the development of new types of nuclear weapon. The nuclear blasts by India and Pakistan in May 1998 set back the drive for the CTBT but also made its value even more obvious. We therefore call on those remaining states whose ratification is necessary for its entry into force promptly to ratify the Treaty without delay and without conditions.

In the meantime, they should maintain their nuclear testing moratoria, and support the establishment of an effective verification system, including the development of procedures for effective and timely on-site inspection. States parties to the CTBT should consider working together to send high-level groups of emissaries to key countries which have not yet signed or ratified the treaty in order to facilitate and encourage their support for CTBT inspections.
 

Mr. Chairman,

In 2000, the nuclear weapons states made an unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals. Ireland believes that the entry into force of this Treaty is an essential step in this process. In the wake of the cold war, and in a changing security environment, we now need to progress concretely towards nuclear disarmament and to
reinforce the international non-proliferation regime. The CTBT represents the international community's means to achieve this objective and is an authentic test of commitment to a multilateral approach to this question. It is evident that a widespread political will exists globally for this Treaty to enter into force. It is also evident, however, that, without the Treaty, the willingness to observe testing moratoria will come under ever greater pressure. The events of 1998 were an aberration which none of us wish to see repeated.
 

Mr. Chairman,

Ireland has long been active in the area of disarmament, with a particular focus on the goal of nuclear disarmament and how it might be achieved through multilateral agreement. Under the auspices of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty we have sought, with others, to see those who possess nuclear weapons enter into commitments to take measured, realistic steps toward this goal. There are significant, identifiable steps which it is necessary for the international community to proceed with - a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to prevent the development of more deadly weapons, a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty to halt the production of their main ingredient, and an implementation of the understanding which lies at the heart of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a foregoing of possession of nuclear weapons in return for their elimination by those who already possess them. These significant challenges can in our view be met - they are the agenda for a nuclear free world - but they require specific willingness to take first steps. The CTBT is one of them.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
 

Sources

• http://www.un.org/webcast/ctbt/statements/irelandE.htm