nuclear-news

It would be illegal for most American military flights to pass through Shannon airport under a new international nuclear weapons treaty which the Government is committed to ratifying, the president of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has said.

Rev Prof Patrick Comerford was speaking at a commemoration ceremony in Dublin to mark the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the second World War………

Legislation to ratify it and give effect to its provisions is being prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs. …..

Prof Comerford said Ireland was today once again at the forefront, promoting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.

The treaty was passed on July 7th last year and in order to come into effect, it needs the signature and ratification of at least 50 countries…….

Despite opposition from Nato member states to the treaty, Ireland was one of the strongest proponents of the new treaty during last year’s negotiations,” Prof Comerford said.

“The Government is committed to early ratification, and, despite Brexit consuming so much of the department’s time and resources, negatively, I hope in a very positive way this treaty can be ratified by Ireland before the end of the year.”

He said that once it entered into force, there would be “a clear international prohibition on acquiring, stockpiling and sharing nuclear weapons”, which had been a major short-falling in the earlier treaty.

The CND president also suggested this meant it would also be “illegal for most of those American overflights to pass through Shannon Airport”…….https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/us-military-flights-through-shannon-would-be-illegal-under-new-anti-nuclear-treaty-1.3587892