The Minister for Foreign Affairs will today introduce a new nuclear disarmament initiative by Ireland for which he has won significant backing from other neutral and non-aligned states.
The Irish initiative has been given impetus by recent events but had begun before India's recent five nuclear weapons tests, and six by Pakistan, sparking fears of a new nuclear arms race in south Asia.
Work started on the initiative at the beginning of the year.
It will be unveiled by Mr Andrews in the company of ambassadors from its main co-sponsors - Sweden, South Africa and New Zealand. There will be parallel announcements in Stockholm, Pretoria and Wellington.
This Irish initiative has been set up entirely outside the EU framework, as it would be impossible to obtain EU support for such a move.
Two EU member-states - Britain and France - are established nuclear weapons states, while most are members of the nuclear-armed NATO military alliance.
Mr Andrews had talks in Stockholm last May 11th and in Pretoria last week with the relevant ministers before the details of the plan were finalised.
The Minister's action, according to one well-placed source, "demonstrates our capacity and willingness to go outside the EU on foreign policy questions when relevant and necessary".
In 1961, Ireland proposed the first UN resolution proposing a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. That resolution, still known as "the Irish resolution", was proposed by Mr Frank Aiken as minister for external affairs and approved unanimously by the UN General Assembly.
Today's move comes amid growing concern that nuclear disarmament is not proceeding as was hoped for at the end of the Cold War. In particular, there is a recognition that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996 has not prevented two more states on the threshold of developing a nuclear arsenal from moving closer to nuclear status.
The "threshold states" - India, Pakistan and Israel - point to the fact that while the treaty would prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, it does oblige the nuclear "club" - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain - to dispose of their nuclear weapons.
India and Pakistan have not signed the test-ban treaty, saying it discriminates in favour of those possessing nuclear weapons.
The new initiative is understood to call not only on the threshold states to desist from testing, but also demands greater action on disarmament from the established nuclear states.
It may propose specific steps to be taken by the nuclear states to show the seriousness of their commitment to nuclear disarmament.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says the initiative is "aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and securing the elimination of those already in existence".
The four sponsoring states are now expected to argue that the five established nuclear powers have a special responsibility to promote nuclear disarmament by both reaffirming their commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons and taking practical steps to achieve it. They will seek support from other UN states to increase the pressure on nuclear states.