Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Seán Crowe TD, attended a roundtable discussion in Dublin today, on nuclear disarmament which was organised the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in conjunction with the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (ICND).

“I was delighted to be invited to and to take part in the engaging and insightful discussions that took place.

“Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its Government has repeatedly stated their disdain for nuclear weapons and that they do not seek to develop nuclear weapons. They have of course a right, like all signatories to the NPT, to create nuclear energy for peaceful civilian purposes only.

“However other countries, including many of  those involved in the negotiations, do have nuclear weapons. I believe all States should sign the NPT, open their nuclear facilities to inspection, and put their nuclear doomsday weapons beyond use.

“Nuclear weapons have also recently become part of the current Scottish independence debate. The pro-independent parties in Scotland are all in favour of removing the controversial ‘Trident’ nuclear submarines from  Scotland if they vote for independence later this year.

“Nuclear doomsday weapons have no place in modern society and all these States need to by pressurised by world opinion to  put their nuclear stockpiles beyond use.

“We know from Hiroshima and Nagasaki the reality of weapons of mass destruction. We owe it to their memory to collectively make sure these weapons are destroyed and this very real threat to mankind’s  very existence is removed”

ENDS