Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned the United Nations (UN) the world is at risk of a nuclear arms race “that must not pass”. 

In Ireland’s national address at the UN General Assembly, Mr Varadkar criticised Russia for threatening to use nuclear armaments in its conflict with Ukraine if there is an escalation from the west. 

He said Ireland has “long been committed to building a world free of nuclear threats”. 

“But we see a world in which their place in security doctrines is growing rather than diminishing. This must be reversed,” he said. 

“The stark alternative is a new nuclear arms race. That must not pass.” 

He said he saw on Ireland’s recent term on the UN Security Council that crucial decisions were “blocked by the use of a veto”. 

“Our future requires a UN with a reformed Security Council – without the anachronism of the veto,” he said. 

“We also need a UN Security Council that properly reflects the world’s demography and politics as it is now not in the 1940s. 

“We know what can be achieved through cooperation at the UN. We have seen it. We have lived it and participated in it. This is our institution and system that has real value.” 

Israel and Palestine

The Taoiseach also said the UN has not failed to address any conflict worse than that in Israel and Palestine. 

“We have known for decades the parameters of the only just solution: a two-State solution, with a viable Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel, who's right to exist should be accepted and respected by all its neighbours,” he said. 

“We have affirmed and reaffirmed this many times. Yet, day after day, developments take us further from this vision and make a two-state solution harder to handle.”