Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

It is a pity a minimalist approach is being taken to this Bill, namely, doing the least required under the statute. We must obviously respect the statute — I am not saying we should not do what is specified therein — but we should do more when the opportunity presents itself. In this case, we have an opportunity to set a standard and demonstrate to other countries our progressive approach. Not only would we be able to say we signed up to the international treaties prohibiting the use of the weapons in question but we could also state our belief that those who use such weapons or projectiles, which cause superfluous and inherently indiscriminate injury, during a war or other circumstances that fall under the remit of the International Criminal Court, have a case to answer and should be brought before the court to account for their crimes.

It is strange that we ban the use of the weapons in question while not regarding those who use them as breaking the law. They may only be breaking the law if they use them in Ireland. Maybe the logic is tied to the attitude that we should not be critical of the use of such weapons in conflicts by the United States or some of its puppets, such as Israel. We should not shy away from being critical of the United States when necessary. There was widespread criticism of the United States for deploying such weapons in Fallujah, for instance. The same was the case when it used uranium-tipped tank rounds in the conflict in Serbia. Even US soldiers suffered the consequences of the use of these indiscriminative weapons. Ex-servicemen in the United States demand that they be banned. However, they will not be covered under the remit of the International Criminal Court because we are taking a minimalist approach and not setting the agenda in the international arena. We are saying we must wait until the state parties review the statute when it comes into effect and that we hope they will take on board what we are saying. We should be encouraging the review and entering it with a much stronger strategy based on our being able to say we have made the use of such weapons a crime covered by the International Criminal Court in our legislation. We should encourage others to follow our lead and that of Brazil. I am only aware of Brazil having signed up so far but other countries may have done so.

See this speech in context