Ireland
Addressing the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022, Ireland hailed the meeting as ‘an important milestone’ but expressed regret that it was taking place ‘at a dark moment for European and global security’.[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Test | Compliant | |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compliant |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compliant |
| (d) | Use | Compliant |
| Threaten to use | Compliant | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compliant |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compliant |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compliant |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted yes (2022) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 8 (38%) |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Voted yes |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | Voted yes |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | No |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1968) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1999) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1972) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1996) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
The 1MSP appointed Ireland and Thailand as informal facilitators to further explore and articulate the possible areas of tangible cooperation between the TPNW and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and other relevant nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation instruments. They will submit recommendations for distribution through a Coordination Committee, and report to the Second Meeting of States Parties.2
At the Tenth Review Conference of the NPT in August 2022, Ireland said that the 1MSP 'successfully demonstrated the value of the TPNW for its states parties as a pathway to fulfilling [NPT] Article VI obligations.’3 In a closing statement to the NPT Review Conference, Ireland and 64 other TPNW supporters urged ‘all states committed to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons to join the TPNW without delay’.4
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Ireland said that the 1MSP was ‘a critical milestone in allowing the Treaty to establish the necessary foundations for the implementation of its provisions’.5
Recommendations
- Ireland should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.