Ms Niamh N? Bhriain:

I read through the cluster munitions Act before coming in. The fact there is even a question mark over whether public moneys are going through the European Union to companies involved in the production of cluster munitions is a red flag. The fact we cannot say categorically they are not is a red flag. This is why we have to have a scrutiny committee. Until we get a categorical answer we should not send Irish public money. As I have said, there is a question mark around the Irish legislation and European legislation. We should start at home with Irish public moneys.

This is something Irish people feel very strongly about. We often hear internationally about the role that Ireland played in bringing about the international prohibition on cluster munitions. When there was a decision to send cluster munitions, there was a question about whether they would transit through Shannon Airport on their way to being used in Ukraine. We do not have a categorical "Yes" or "No". We have no idea what is being transited through Shannon Airport on the way to Israel or, possibly, to end up on the front lines of Ukraine.

This is a crisis not only in terms of these particular wars or conflicts but in terms of accountability from our public institutions for what is happening with our public money. It is a slippery slope. As Professor Maguire said, we are going in the wrong direction. If we look at this over the past 40 years. something gets moved in one direction because there is an exception or urgency and it becomes the norm. Then we standardise everything against it.