Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has signed a landmark convention banning the use of cluster bombs on behalf of Ireland at a ceremony in Norway.
Ireland is one of 108 countries to sign up to the convention, which aims to prohibit the use of the weapons which disperse large numbers of bomblets.
The bombs do not always explode on impact and remain a threat long after any conflict.
However, three of the world's largest stockpilers of cluster bombs - the US, Russia and China - are not signing the convention.
A number of victims and relatives of the victims of cluster bombs travelled to Oslo to support the treaty and to call for more countries to sign.
Dropped from warplanes or fired from artillery guns, cluster bombs explode in mid-air to randomly scatter hundreds of bomblets, which can be just 8cm in size.
Campaign group Handicap International estimates that some 100,000 people have been killed or injured by cluster bombs since 1965.
Many of those injured are children, as cluster bombs are often mistaken for toys.
