Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

http://indigo.ie/~goodwill/icnd.html P.O. Box 6327, Dublin 6,
e-mail: irishcnd@ireland.com Telephone: 087-236 4312

PRESS RELEASE 3rd. August 2001

Fifty-six years ago the world witnessed the horrors inflicted on the people of Hiroshima when tens of thousands were killed by the atomic bomb. Since then the world has had to endure the constant fear of the of the destructive power of the nuclear process.

The destruction at Chernobyl, the constant dangers presented by Sellafield and the U.S.'s plans to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty are stark reminders that the nuclear threat remains very real today

Billy FitzPatrick, Chairperson of Irish C.N.D. calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to use Ireland's seat on the U.N. Security Council to work for a more peaceful world. " Mr. Cowen should demand that The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which is due for review this autumn includes a verification protocol, which will ensure that chemical weapons will not be used. The Irish peoples' rejection of the Nice Treaty demonstrates their commitment to Irish neutrality, and our government should raise its voice at this time of increasing international tension."

The Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be holding its Annual Hiroshima Day Commemoration this Monday, August 6th., at 3.00 p.m. in Merrion Square Park, Dublin at the Hiroshima Memorial Cherry Tree, planted by C.N.D. in 1980, in the north-west corner of Merrion Square (the National Gallery end). The commemoration will be opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and speakers include Dr. John de Courcy Ireland, President of Irish C.N.D., Billy Fitzpatrick, Irish C.N.D. Chairperson. Nessa O'Mahony will read some of her poems. Irish and German children will lay a wreath and origami cranes at the cherry tree. (Sadako, a Japanese girl, dying of radiation from the atomic bomb, made origami cranes out of the paper wappers which contained her medicines. These cranes were presented to Irish C.N.D. by Japanese visitors earlier this year).

Irish C.N.D. President John de Courcy Ireland pleads with people everywhere to "BEWARE" as they remember the lessons of the horror of Hiroshima: "We, the people, have to realise that the great powers, at huge cost while children are dying of starvation in so many lands, building up huge arsenals of germ weapons, with which they propose if they think a war is necessary to consolidate their power." The shadow of nuclear weapons hangs over our whole lives: "The reality is, while these weapons exist and are developed, the threat of their use is with us every minute of every hour of every day.. This is the world out children and their children after them are condemned to live in unless we, the ordinary people, do something to change it."


Contacts: Billy Fitzpatrick, Chair, Irish C.N.D., 087-2364312
Brid McGrath 01-4977043 / 087-2476424

ENDS

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