The promotion of disarmament and non-proliferation remains a core activity for the United Nations and a priority for Ireland. Our national policy on disarmament and non-proliferation advocates the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the prevention of further proliferation of nuclear weapons capability, a complete ban on the use of cluster munitions, greater controls on the trade in small arms and light weapons and the implementation and strengthening of treaties banning the use, stockpiling production and transfer of chemical and biological weapons.

Disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons have historically been key foreign policy objectives for Ireland. At the United Nations in 1958, Ireland launched the process which ultimately led to the conclusion of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which Ireland was the first signatory.  More recently, in 2008, Ireland drove forward efforts to secure a ban on cluster munitions that culminated in the adoption in May 2008 in Dublin of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a comprehensive, immediate and unconditional ban on all cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

The Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York strongly supports the work of the Political Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs by advancing Ireland’s policy on disarmament and non-proliferation at the United Nations.  In 2012, the Mission will play an active role in Ireland's participation in the July Conference to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty, and will lead Ireland's participation in August/September in the Review Conference on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The Mission is also closely engaged in discussion of disarmament and non-proliferation issues at the annual meetings of the First Committee of the General Assembly and the UN Disarmament Commission.  PMUN liaises closely on these issues with our sister Mission to the UN in Geneva, which is home to the Conference on Disarmament, and Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency is located.