Statement by Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciarán Cannon, T.D. - Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019
A Ceann Comhairle,
I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”
1. The purpose of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019 is to enable Ireland to become a State Party to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This Bill will put in place the necessary legislative underpinning to allow Ireland ratify this historic Treaty.
2. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the outcome of a two-year process led by States and Civil Society concerned at the increasing risks and catastrophic consequences of a nuclear weapons explosion as well as by lack of progress by the Nuclear Weapons States on the Disarmament provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Treaty was opened for signature at the United Nations in New York on the 20th of September 2017. Minister Simon Coveney signed the Treaty on behalf of Ireland on the first day it opened for signature. As of today, the Treaty has received 70 signatures, including 26 ratifications. The TPNW requires 50 ratifications to enter into force. I hope that the passage of this legislation will allow Ireland to be amongst those early ratifiers.
3. Ireland is closely associated with this Treaty. Ireland took a leading role in the process that led to the adoption of the TPNW and was a member of the Core Group of States made up of Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa who brought forward the Resolution giving the UN conference its negotiating mandate. I am very proud of the contribution made by Ireland in this regard. The contribution of this Treaty to global peace and security was recognised most prominently through the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 to the International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – an umbrella civil society advocacy group, which has long been a close partner for Ireland. ICAN had spent more than a decade advocating for a humanitarian perspective to be considered in relation to nuclear weapons, which was finally realised with the TPNW. I am further pleased that the specific work of the Irish delegation and our Core Group partner countries was recognised by the 2018 Arms Control Person of the Year Award, for our work in leading the TPNW negotiations.
4. This new Treaty provides for States to fulfil their disarmament obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty (Article VI), and affirm their commitment to achieving a world free from nuclear weapons. The TPNW plugs a legal gap by prohibiting the last form of weapon of mass destruction which had not yet been explicitly outlawed. I know that Deputies from across the House share my deep concern about the immense human suffering and environmental degradation, which would arise from the detonation of a nuclear weapon, whether by accident, miscalculation or design, anywhere on the planet. The only guarantee of protection from nuclear weapons use is their complete elimination. The ratification of the TPNW is an important step towards the realisation of this important objective.
5. The issue of nuclear disarmament is one which has traditionally enjoyed support from across the political spectrum in Ireland, and I would like to take a moment to remind Deputies of the deep rooted legacy of engagement which Ireland has had on nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament became a priority foreign policy objective shortly after we joined the UN over sixty years ago. Ireland played a leading role in the origins of the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament regime, namely the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) which entered into force in 1970. In 1958, then Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken introduced the first of what became known as the ''Irish Resolutions'' at the UN. The Irish Resolutions ultimately led to the adoption of the NPT in 1968. I would like to recall the words spoken by Minister Aiken at the 22nd UN General Assembly First Committee meeting on 6th of May 1968 which adopted the NPT, his words are as relevant to this treaty and at this time as they were then, when he described the NPT: ‘For all states large and small, it is, I believe, an infinitely more effective shield against a nuclear holocaust, than the most costly armoury of offensive and defensive equipment.’
6. The same commitment to multilateralism that drove Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s informed the Irish approach to the historic TPNW negotiations in 2017. The outcome of the TPNW negotiations goes to the very heart of our belief in a rules-based international world order. We live in challenging times, when many of the agreements we have worked hard to collectively reach are unravelling or are being undermined. The Doom day Clock, updated each year since 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, is now at two minutes to midnight – the closest it has ever been to apocalypse. The prospect of a new arms race is a very real possibility. There has been a worrying decrease in the taboo around threat of use of these weapons of mass destruction; there is vast investment in so-called modernisation with talk of more strategic, more targeted, more usable nuclear weapons and increased reliance on these weapons in security doctrines. Of deep concern and one of the most dangerous ideas in the current discourse is the notion that any nuclear weapon could ever be used again, even in some sort of controlled way. This idea is completely unacceptable. As the most powerful and most indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction ever invented, they should have no place in the security doctrine of any state and their very existence threatens us all.
7. I do not need to recall for you the horror visited upon the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who suffered the devastating effects of the only occasions when nuclear weapons have been used in war. Furthermore, people – often marginalised or vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples – and the planet continue to suffer today the enduring aftermaths of thousands of nuclear tests that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. Knowing what we know now about the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear explosion and the sheer impossibility of any adequate humanitarian response, we must reject the very notion that they can ever be used again under any circumstance. As Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev had the insight to agree, even at the height of the Cold War, “a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought”. It was true then, and it remains true and even more relevant now.
8. In a context of global mistrust and a deeply challenging security environment, it is ever more necessary to call on enduring principles. Ireland believes that multilateralism is the key to solving the global challenges that we face. We will hold firm in our belief that the equilibrium of world order cannot be held in place and is not currently held in place by either threat or fear, in fact quite the reverse and a permanent peace can only ever be attained through respect for the rule of law, based on justice. We are consistently told by large states with nuclear weapons that nuclear disarmament is a challenge for them, but it is an equally important responsibility, under the NPT and now re-enforced under the TPNW, for small states with no nuclear weapons, a responsibility which Ireland will continue to discharge in full.
9. The significance of the TPNW lies in the fact that for the first time, the core objective of the prohibition of nuclear weapons; will be clearly and unambiguously prohibited, addressing the current legal gap. Together with our partners, we will to use every opportunity to reiterate that these weapons are inhumane, indiscriminate and beyond any possible legal use. Our focus will be on the weapon and not on the actor – as former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon puts it, “there are no right hands for those wrong weapons”. For as long as nuclear weapons exist, we are all under existential threat.
10. The TPNW is very much the child of the multilateralism, built on framework which was developed over 50 years and in particular the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT remains the cornerstone of the multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. It is composed of three ‘pillars’; Nuclear Disarmament, Nuclear Non-Proliferation and the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Its overriding purpose was to work towards complete nuclear disarmament, by capping the number of nuclear weapons states and introducing a legally-binding obligation on those states to disarm. The drafters of the NPT knew that this document would need to be built on over time, and over the last 50 years the international community has built a variety of supporting frameworks and regimes around the Treaty to bolster its provisions. These supporting frameworks are already in place for the non-proliferation pillar through multiple export control regimes, and for the peaceful uses pillar, mainly in the form of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The NPT also led to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the global norm against nuclear testing.
11. However, despite these notable milestones, there is one pillar where progress on the implementation of the NPT has fallen short, that is the nuclear disarmament pillar. Unlike the other pillars, there are very few supporting regimes for the disarmament provisions, and attempts to strengthen the disarmament provisions have traditionally been fiercely resisted in particular by the nuclear weapons states. For example, commitments made in the NPT Action Plans from 2000 and 2010 remain unfulfilled and their status called into question. And 22 years since opening for signature, the CTBT has yet to enter into force.
12. Unfortunately, we are living at time when progress on nuclear disarmament is urgently needed. While the nuclear weapons States have formally accepted their disarmament obligations, at the same time, they continue to modernise their nuclear arsenals. Even more worryingly, the norm against the threat of use of nuclear weapons has been seriously eroded in recent times and consideration seems to be given by some states in the international community for the use of nuclear weapons other than as a deterrent.
13. In this regard, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons gives the NPT some much needed impetus on disarmament. It is the first new legal multilateral instrument on nuclear disarmament to be adopted in over 20 years; it is a success story not only because of its ground-breaking content but also because of what it entails in terms of progress toward the fulfilment of the NPT's disarmament provisions. It gives back agency to non-nuclear weapon states such as Ireland with respect to nuclear disarmament and address the urgent need to make progress.
14. The Treaty establishes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on nuclear weapons activities.These include undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The TPNW also prohibits the stationing, installation or deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory.
15. In addition to these core prohibitions that implement the disarmament pillar of the NPT, the TPNW makes its own contributions to the multilateral disarmament regime through a number of ground-breaking provisions. The Treaty obliges States Parties to assist survivors of nuclear weapons testing or use in areas under their jurisdiction, and to undertake necessary environmental remediation in areas under their control. The Treaty is the first international legal instrument to recognise the disproportionate impact on the health of women and girls of ionising radiation from nuclear weapons use. The Treaty also promotes the equal participation in the Treaty’s work by women and men and includes a provision on disarmament education. Ireland was a strong advocate for these provisions during the Treaty negotiations, in line with our consistent support for gender mainstreaming in disarmament negotiations and policies. Ireland’s engagement with the Treaty negotiations also reflected our principled position on humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, respect for human rights and the promotion of civil society voices.
16. I am happy to acknowledge that the TPNW is reflective of the breadth of participation in the negotiations: States large and small from all parts of the world were able to participate; civil society and academia were valuable contributors; most importantly the drafting process benefitted from hearing the crucial testimony from survivors of nuclear weapons testing and use. The result of these views and experiences is an inclusive and innovative treaty, which acknowledges that we all have a stake in achieving nuclear disarmament.
17. The Treaty is not without its detractors. While a large majority of UN Member States voted in its favour, the Nuclear Weapons States and many of their military allies chose not to participate in the negotiations. This was regrettable and Ireland consistently called on them to join the negotiations and to participate in good faith. Ireland does not agree with their view that nuclear disarmament must wait until an ideal security environment is reached. Rather, the opposite is true – the retention of nuclear weapons, and in particular the threat of a renewed arms race, is itself a driver of insecurity and risk, while nuclear disarmament is an enabler of an improved security environment. Despite this opposition from some quarters, the TPNW represents the best hope in decades for multilateral progress on nuclear disarmament, an issue more pressing than ever. The TPNW provides a framework for disarmament, and by stigmatising and delegitimising nuclear weapons, it may strengthen calls for disarmament in those countries that possess nuclear weapons. I am also aware of national debates being undertaken in some other neutral states and hope that Ireland can provide leadership and influence through our own ratification.
18. As well as some including some innovative elements, the core of the Treaty follows the model of other similar weapons prohibitions. With this in mind, the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019 is likewise modelled on similar Irish legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure Ireland will be in a position to meet all its obligations as a State Party to the Treaty.
19. The requirement for States to adopt national measures to implement the Treaty is set out in Article 5.1 and Article 5.2 of the TPNW. The present Bill represents Ireland’s national measures under the Treaty, and was developed in consultation with other Government departments.
20. Section 1 of the Bill defines certain terms for the purposes of the Bill. Sections 2 and 3 create the offences. Section 2 creates criminal offences for specified nuclear weapon activities. Section 2 makes it an offence for a person to develop, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess, transfer or receive the transfer of a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device. It also makes it an offence to station, install or deploy a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device, or to use or threaten to use them. In addition, Section 2 provides that a person who assists, encourages or induces the commission of an offence shall also be guilty of an offence and that a person who seeks or receives assistance to commit an offence shall be guilty of an offence. Section 3 provides for extraterritorial jurisdiction in respect of acts committed outside the State in specified circumstances. These circumstances include the commission of an offence on board an Irish ship, on board an aircraft registered in the State, or where the person is a member of the Defence Forces.
21. Section 4 provides for penalties for the commission of offences under Sections 2 and 3. A person who is found guilty of an offence will be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine, imprisonment for life or such a lesser term as the court may determine, or both.
22. Section 5 applies the rule against double jeopardy and is a standard clause. Section 6 clarifies offences as they relate to bodies corporate. Section 7 sets out the short title of the Bill and contains a commencement clause.
23. Ireland’s ratification of the Treaty would be consistent with our long-standing foreign policy priority on nuclear disarmament and our position as a key proponent of multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. I know that achieving a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons is a long-standing priority of the Irish people, who take pride in our historic role and who ask us to continue to live up to our great legacy in this field. Thus I would ask all members of the House to support this Bill in the best interests of disarmament, global security and humanity.
24. I commend the Bill to the House.
A Ceann Comhairle,
I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”
1. The purpose of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019 is to enable Ireland to become a State Party to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This Bill will put in place the necessary legislative underpinning to allow Ireland ratify this historic Treaty.
2. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the outcome of a two-year process led by States and Civil Society concerned at the increasing risks and catastrophic consequences of a nuclear weapons explosion as well as by lack of progress by the Nuclear Weapons States on the Disarmament provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Treaty was opened for signature at the United Nations in New York on the 20th of September 2017. Minister Simon Coveney signed the Treaty on behalf of Ireland on the first day it opened for signature. As of today, the Treaty has received 70 signatures, including 26 ratifications. The TPNW requires 50 ratifications to enter into force. I hope that the passage of this legislation will allow Ireland to be amongst those early ratifiers.
3. Ireland is closely associated with this Treaty. Ireland took a leading role in the process that led to the adoption of the TPNW and was a member of the Core Group of States made up of Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa who brought forward the Resolution giving the UN conference its negotiating mandate. I am very proud of the contribution made by Ireland in this regard. The contribution of this Treaty to global peace and security was recognised most prominently through the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 to the International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – an umbrella civil society advocacy group, which has long been a close partner for Ireland. ICAN had spent more than a decade advocating for a humanitarian perspective to be considered in relation to nuclear weapons, which was finally realised with the TPNW. I am further pleased that the specific work of the Irish delegation and our Core Group partner countries was recognised by the 2018 Arms Control Person of the Year Award, for our work in leading the TPNW negotiations.
4. This new Treaty provides for States to fulfil their disarmament obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty (Article VI), and affirm their commitment to achieving a world free from nuclear weapons. The TPNW plugs a legal gap by prohibiting the last form of weapon of mass destruction which had not yet been explicitly outlawed. I know that Deputies from across the House share my deep concern about the immense human suffering and environmental degradation, which would arise from the detonation of a nuclear weapon, whether by accident, miscalculation or design, anywhere on the planet. The only guarantee of protection from nuclear weapons use is their complete elimination. The ratification of the TPNW is an important step towards the realisation of this important objective.
5. The issue of nuclear disarmament is one which has traditionally enjoyed support from across the political spectrum in Ireland, and I would like to take a moment to remind Deputies of the deep rooted legacy of engagement which Ireland has had on nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament became a priority foreign policy objective shortly after we joined the UN over sixty years ago. Ireland played a leading role in the origins of the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament regime, namely the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) which entered into force in 1970. In 1958, then Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken introduced the first of what became known as the ''Irish Resolutions'' at the UN. The Irish Resolutions ultimately led to the adoption of the NPT in 1968. I would like to recall the words spoken by Minister Aiken at the 22nd UN General Assembly First Committee meeting on 6th of May 1968 which adopted the NPT, his words are as relevant to this treaty and at this time as they were then, when he described the NPT: ‘For all states large and small, it is, I believe, an infinitely more effective shield against a nuclear holocaust, than the most costly armoury of offensive and defensive equipment.’
6. The same commitment to multilateralism that drove Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s informed the Irish approach to the historic TPNW negotiations in 2017. The outcome of the TPNW negotiations goes to the very heart of our belief in a rules-based international world order. We live in challenging times, when many of the agreements we have worked hard to collectively reach are unravelling or are being undermined. The Doom day Clock, updated each year since 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, is now at two minutes to midnight – the closest it has ever been to apocalypse. The prospect of a new arms race is a very real possibility. There has been a worrying decrease in the taboo around threat of use of these weapons of mass destruction; there is vast investment in so-called modernisation with talk of more strategic, more targeted, more usable nuclear weapons and increased reliance on these weapons in security doctrines. Of deep concern and one of the most dangerous ideas in the current discourse is the notion that any nuclear weapon could ever be used again, even in some sort of controlled way. This idea is completely unacceptable. As the most powerful and most indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction ever invented, they should have no place in the security doctrine of any state and their very existence threatens us all.
7. I do not need to recall for you the horror visited upon the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who suffered the devastating effects of the only occasions when nuclear weapons have been used in war. Furthermore, people – often marginalised or vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples – and the planet continue to suffer today the enduring aftermaths of thousands of nuclear tests that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. Knowing what we know now about the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear explosion and the sheer impossibility of any adequate humanitarian response, we must reject the very notion that they can ever be used again under any circumstance. As Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev had the insight to agree, even at the height of the Cold War, “a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought”. It was true then, and it remains true and even more relevant now.
8. In a context of global mistrust and a deeply challenging security environment, it is ever more necessary to call on enduring principles. Ireland believes that multilateralism is the key to solving the global challenges that we face. We will hold firm in our belief that the equilibrium of world order cannot be held in place and is not currently held in place by either threat or fear, in fact quite the reverse and a permanent peace can only ever be attained through respect for the rule of law, based on justice. We are consistently told by large states with nuclear weapons that nuclear disarmament is a challenge for them, but it is an equally important responsibility, under the NPT and now re-enforced under the TPNW, for small states with no nuclear weapons, a responsibility which Ireland will continue to discharge in full.
9. The significance of the TPNW lies in the fact that for the first time, the core objective of the prohibition of nuclear weapons; will be clearly and unambiguously prohibited, addressing the current legal gap. Together with our partners, we will to use every opportunity to reiterate that these weapons are inhumane, indiscriminate and beyond any possible legal use. Our focus will be on the weapon and not on the actor – as former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon puts it, “there are no right hands for those wrong weapons”. For as long as nuclear weapons exist, we are all under existential threat.
10. The TPNW is very much the child of the multilateralism, built on framework which was developed over 50 years and in particular the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT remains the cornerstone of the multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. It is composed of three ‘pillars’; Nuclear Disarmament, Nuclear Non-Proliferation and the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Its overriding purpose was to work towards complete nuclear disarmament, by capping the number of nuclear weapons states and introducing a legally-binding obligation on those states to disarm. The drafters of the NPT knew that this document would need to be built on over time, and over the last 50 years the international community has built a variety of supporting frameworks and regimes around the Treaty to bolster its provisions. These supporting frameworks are already in place for the non-proliferation pillar through multiple export control regimes, and for the peaceful uses pillar, mainly in the form of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The NPT also led to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the global norm against nuclear testing.
11. However, despite these notable milestones, there is one pillar where progress on the implementation of the NPT has fallen short, that is the nuclear disarmament pillar. Unlike the other pillars, there are very few supporting regimes for the disarmament provisions, and attempts to strengthen the disarmament provisions have traditionally been fiercely resisted in particular by the nuclear weapons states. For example, commitments made in the NPT Action Plans from 2000 and 2010 remain unfulfilled and their status called into question. And 22 years since opening for signature, the CTBT has yet to enter into force.
12. Unfortunately, we are living at time when progress on nuclear disarmament is urgently needed. While the nuclear weapons States have formally accepted their disarmament obligations, at the same time, they continue to modernise their nuclear arsenals. Even more worryingly, the norm against the threat of use of nuclear weapons has been seriously eroded in recent times and consideration seems to be given by some states in the international community for the use of nuclear weapons other than as a deterrent.
13. In this regard, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons gives the NPT some much needed impetus on disarmament. It is the first new legal multilateral instrument on nuclear disarmament to be adopted in over 20 years; it is a success story not only because of its ground-breaking content but also because of what it entails in terms of progress toward the fulfilment of the NPT's disarmament provisions. It gives back agency to non-nuclear weapon states such as Ireland with respect to nuclear disarmament and address the urgent need to make progress.
14. The Treaty establishes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on nuclear weapons activities.These include undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The TPNW also prohibits the stationing, installation or deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory.
15. In addition to these core prohibitions that implement the disarmament pillar of the NPT, the TPNW makes its own contributions to the multilateral disarmament regime through a number of ground-breaking provisions. The Treaty obliges States Parties to assist survivors of nuclear weapons testing or use in areas under their jurisdiction, and to undertake necessary environmental remediation in areas under their control. The Treaty is the first international legal instrument to recognise the disproportionate impact on the health of women and girls of ionising radiation from nuclear weapons use. The Treaty also promotes the equal participation in the Treaty’s work by women and men and includes a provision on disarmament education. Ireland was a strong advocate for these provisions during the Treaty negotiations, in line with our consistent support for gender mainstreaming in disarmament negotiations and policies. Ireland’s engagement with the Treaty negotiations also reflected our principled position on humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, respect for human rights and the promotion of civil society voices.
16. I am happy to acknowledge that the TPNW is reflective of the breadth of participation in the negotiations: States large and small from all parts of the world were able to participate; civil society and academia were valuable contributors; most importantly the drafting process benefitted from hearing the crucial testimony from survivors of nuclear weapons testing and use. The result of these views and experiences is an inclusive and innovative treaty, which acknowledges that we all have a stake in achieving nuclear disarmament.
17. The Treaty is not without its detractors. While a large majority of UN Member States voted in its favour, the Nuclear Weapons States and many of their military allies chose not to participate in the negotiations. This was regrettable and Ireland consistently called on them to join the negotiations and to participate in good faith. Ireland does not agree with their view that nuclear disarmament must wait until an ideal security environment is reached. Rather, the opposite is true – the retention of nuclear weapons, and in particular the threat of a renewed arms race, is itself a driver of insecurity and risk, while nuclear disarmament is an enabler of an improved security environment. Despite this opposition from some quarters, the TPNW represents the best hope in decades for multilateral progress on nuclear disarmament, an issue more pressing than ever. The TPNW provides a framework for disarmament, and by stigmatising and delegitimising nuclear weapons, it may strengthen calls for disarmament in those countries that possess nuclear weapons. I am also aware of national debates being undertaken in some other neutral states and hope that Ireland can provide leadership and influence through our own ratification.
18. As well as some including some innovative elements, the core of the Treaty follows the model of other similar weapons prohibitions. With this in mind, the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019 is likewise modelled on similar Irish legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure Ireland will be in a position to meet all its obligations as a State Party to the Treaty.
19. The requirement for States to adopt national measures to implement the Treaty is set out in Article 5.1 and Article 5.2 of the TPNW. The present Bill represents Ireland’s national measures under the Treaty, and was developed in consultation with other Government departments.
20. Section 1 of the Bill defines certain terms for the purposes of the Bill. Sections 2 and 3 create the offences. Section 2 creates criminal offences for specified nuclear weapon activities. Section 2 makes it an offence for a person to develop, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess, transfer or receive the transfer of a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device. It also makes it an offence to station, install or deploy a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device, or to use or threaten to use them. In addition, Section 2 provides that a person who assists, encourages or induces the commission of an offence shall also be guilty of an offence and that a person who seeks or receives assistance to commit an offence shall be guilty of an offence. Section 3 provides for extraterritorial jurisdiction in respect of acts committed outside the State in specified circumstances. These circumstances include the commission of an offence on board an Irish ship, on board an aircraft registered in the State, or where the person is a member of the Defence Forces.
21. Section 4 provides for penalties for the commission of offences under Sections 2 and 3. A person who is found guilty of an offence will be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine, imprisonment for life or such a lesser term as the court may determine, or both.
22. Section 5 applies the rule against double jeopardy and is a standard clause. Section 6 clarifies offences as they relate to bodies corporate. Section 7 sets out the short title of the Bill and contains a commencement clause.
23. Ireland’s ratification of the Treaty would be consistent with our long-standing foreign policy priority on nuclear disarmament and our position as a key proponent of multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. I know that achieving a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons is a long-standing priority of the Irish people, who take pride in our historic role and who ask us to continue to live up to our great legacy in this field. Thus I would ask all members of the House to support this Bill in the best interests of disarmament, global security and humanity.
24. I commend the Bill to the House.