Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which is the licensing authority for Ireland's export control system, consults the Department of Foreign Affairs on all military licence applications and on some applications relating to controlled dual use goods. Ireland's export control system is implemented in a manner that fully meets its obligations as an EU member state and a participant in other international export control fora. Authorisation is given to export licence applications following careful case-by-case examination of their consistency with our international obligations, including the application of arms embargoes and compliance with the EU code of conduct on arms exports. The code of conduct refers to eight criteria which each application must satisfy before it can be approved. The criteria include respect for human rights; the internal situation in the final destination country; the behaviour of the buyer country in the international community, particularly its attitude to terrorism, the nature of its alliances and its respect for international law; regional peace and security; and the risk of diversion under undesirable conditions. The relevant regional sections are involved in the consultation process in the Department. These sections monitor and analyse the evolving political situation of each proposed country of end-destination, as well as issues such internal conflict and respect for human rights, to allow the Department to provide comprehensive and up-to-date observations to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on each specific case.

Officials from the Department attend the relevant EU working group meetings, including those of the conventional arms working group in Brussels, where EU officials exchange denial notifications and share information about their respective export control policies and regulations. The Department is also represented at regular meetings of the international export control regimes, including the Wassenaar arrangement, which deals with conventional weapons, the Australia group, concerned with chemical and biological exports, the missile technology control regime and the nuclear suppliers group. These meetings provide important opportunities for officials to exchange information with respect to particular end-destinations and end-users.

The Department is also consulted by the Department of Transport on applications involving the transit or overflight of civil aircraft carrying munitions of war or dangerous goods. In considering such applications, the Department of Foreign Affairs, as a matter of policy, applies criteria similar to those which relate to the export of weapons or dual use goods.

See this speech in context