UN General Assembly
1963

3. Coming now to the matters before the Assembly, I should like my first words to be words of welcome for the conclusion of the Moscow test ban treaty, for indeed it is the first break-through in the long search for some agreement in the field of nuclear weapons. 4. Members of the Assembly may recall that the Irish delegation has for several years past called for an immediate agreement to stop all tests which cause radioactive fall-out and thereby kill and injure the living and cripple generations yet unborn. We appealed to the nuclear Powers not to make a ban on those tests conditional upon agreement on the more difficult problem of stopping underground tests. We realized only too well that serious political difficulties stood in the way of a limited test ban treaty. Many years of rancorous debate and prolonged negotiations had made that manifest. Now that those difficulties have been surmounted and the Moscow test ban treaty has been successfully concluded, we extend our cordial congratulations to the Powers concerned on their achievement.