Statement by President Higgins on the Nobel Peace Prize 2017
Date: Fri 6th Oct, 2017 | 16:52
"As President of Ireland, Uachtarán na hÉireann, I wish to convey on behalf of the people of Ireland our heartfelt congratulations to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons on winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2017.
The timing of this announcement will have enlarged the glimpse of hope and the great encouragement that all those opposed to nuclear weapons, as one of the greatest threats to humanity, got with the recent vote by 122 countries of the United Nations in favour of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Irish people can be proud of Ireland’s role in being part of the initiation of that Treaty – a consistent act of foreign policy by Ireland.
The recent Treaty was derided by existing nuclear weapons holders on the basis of what was little less than the suggestion that owning such weapons should amount to a veto on action in relation to nuclear weapons.
When the required number of nations sign the Treaty, the Treaty will become an instrument of international law.
The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is not only an award to all the organisations in that collective but also to all the members and their supporters.
Let us all take these events of hope, and the campaign for their implementation, as significant steps towards the achievement of the peaceful, social, and sustainable, just planet on which we wish to live in the solidarity of the vulnerable."