Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this treaty and compliment officials and the Tánaiste on their participation in the treaty talks. This is a landmark arms trade treaty. It has been a long-standing Irish policy over decades to seek a ban on the illegal trading of arms. This policy probably goes back to the 1940s when Frank Aiken was Minister for Foreign Affairs. Ireland got great plaudits at the time for the efforts made by it as a relatively young State and the lead it took on these issues.

There are many positive aspects to the treaty. The briefing note we received states that the arms trade treaty, ATT, prohibits a state from authorising arms exports where it has knowledge that the weapons will be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and other war crimes. This is particularly appropriate at a time when we are seeing so much devastation, loss of life, hardship and infliction of pain in areas such as Syria and many other places throughout the world. I hope the treaty can be ratified and that the figure of 50 states can be reached as soon as possible.

The industries involved in the manufacture of arms make huge profits. Perhaps we should consider the imposition of a levy on those profits to generate revenue to ensure the treaty is implemented as comprehensively as possible. The Tánaiste said that we would give whatever assistance we could to countries that might not have the capacity or expertise to reach the standards required in this area. Perhaps the industry itself should be obliged to contribute towards advancing the treaty and ensuring it is as effective as possible. I welcome and endorse this motion.