The Irish contribution to the first NPT review conference was important in establishing the credibility of the NPT as a functioning instrument of international law. Ireland’s conduct in the preparation for, and role at, the NPT review conference in May 1975 confirms that Irish policy has been incremental since the dawn of the NPT. It had moved from its position in the late 1950s as a prime agenda-setter or catalyst to facilitator or concilitator in the early efforts to institutionalise the NPT in the 1970s. Irish diplomats recognised the sensitive issues at the heart of the NPT. Only by working progressively in a collective, multilateral fashion could Ireland embed the NPT. This pattern continues in current Irish nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament diplomacy.