War in Ukraine and nuclear facilities

Sir, – One year ago, Chernobyl re-entered “centre stage” for all the wrong reasons. News of the Russian invasion of Ukraine came spilling menacingly into our lives, telling us troop movement en route to Kyiv came via the world most toxic environment, the dreaded “Chernobyl Exclusion Zone”. From the moment we woke to the news that Russian troops trundled through the world most toxic and radioactive environment, we knew that the takeover of the Chernobyl site put the world on a precipice, indicating to the world that the nature of modern warfare had changed forever. Following the takeover at Chernobyl, the invasion and occupation moved to one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants at Zaporizhia. This week alone, we have been reminded of the nuclear threat with news of an additional 600 Russian military conscripts being placed at Zaporizhzhia and a machine gun placed on the roof of a nuclear reactor.

Since the outbreak of the war, we have urging that all nuclear facilities be deemed a “no war zone”. We must invoke the Hague convention which defines any attack on a nuclear facility to be a “war crime”. I dread to think that the next Chernobyl, could be Chernobyl itself – or the next Chernobyl will be Zaporizhzhia. The nuclear threat is an inconvenient truth, but one we must not shy away from – and by denying the realities, we are only doing a disservice to generations of children. A new era of diplomacy is urgently needed, to draw us back from the current knife-edge.

“The pen is mightier than the sword”, so today I call on the Irish people to stand up, speak out and use our voices to advocate for peace. I plea with the Irish Government to scale up diplomatic initiatives so we can avoid any nuclear conflagration. Otherwise, we sleepwalk humanity into a wider war and potential humanitarian armaggedon with our eyes not shut, but wide open.

Given Ireland’s history, we know the power of diplomacy and peace, which is reflected in the Belfast Agreement. Let us put pen to paper and rewrite the narrative of this war to one of peace. Let us use our voices to sing a song of peace and justice and show that we are strongest when we stand together. Let us be ambitious for peace! If we remain silent, we are playing with a loaded gun. – Yours, etc,