Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

On Friday, 6th August, over 60 people gathered in Dublin's Merrion Square to mark the 65th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Approximately 80,000 people were killed directly by the bomb blast, with the death toll rising to 140,000 within a year.

The commemoration was addressed by Cllr Eoghan Murphy, representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Patrick Comerford, President of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and His Excellency Mr Toshinao Urabe, the Japanese ambassador to Ireland.

Cllr Murphy highlighted the steps the need to be taken to remove the menace of nuclear weapons, and noted the importance of commemoration of the 1945 bombings: "We must remember. Because in remembering this horrific event, in reminding the world that it happened, we hope to see that it can never happen again.

"That hope is not enough on its own unfortunately. Much else needs to be done. We need a test ban treaty. We need a fissile material cut off treaty. We need greater transparency over existing stocks. And we need a realistic and time bound plan for getting to zero, for the elimination of every nuclear weapon from this earth."
Read speech in full http://www.irishcnd.org/node/40

Patrick Comerford criticised the new British government's plans to push ahead with replacement of its nuclear-armed Trident submarines: "When it comes to nuclear overkill, how can you ensure value for money? How many deaths to the pound? I don’t care. I don’t care if it were to only cost a fiver. Trident is immoral. Trident is a price too high to pay, whatever price it comes at.

"Nuclear weapons create a moral climate that allows wars to continue. Because we live with the awesome prospect of the world being wiped out many times over, we have become less sensitive to the wars around us, and the way modern weapons detach us from the realities of war," he continued.

"It has become difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between war and mass murder because any respect for the rights of civilians has been discarded, and the accepted principles of the just war theory have been ignored. If we ignore the just war principles, enshrined in international law, we run the real danger that the conflicts of the 21st century turn into perpetual war."
Read speech in full http://www.irishcnd.org/node/41

The Japanese ambassador, Mr Toshinao Urabe, thanked Irish CND for organising the annual commemoration, and reiterated the paramount importance of working to rid the world of nuclear weapons, the horror of whose use was experienced sixty-five years ago by the people of Hiroshima. He noted the key role Ireland has played in promoting nuclear disarmament, with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (the NPT) coming into force in 1970 as a result of Irish initiatives at the United Nations.

An ensemble of Irish and Japanese traditional musicians performed at the ceremony. After the laying of a wreath at the memorial cherry tree planted by Irish CND thirty years ago, a minute's silence was observed by those present.

Commemorations also took place in Cork, organised by local members of Irish CND, and in Kilkenny, organised by the Irish section of World without Wars.