James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, well in his new portfolio. This is my first opportunity to congratulate him on taking up the mantle.

On 10 August 2006, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, stated that Ireland does not have an arms trade nor does it want to promote one. In reply, Amnesty International said the Minister of State's claim was deeply unfortunate and that Ireland remains the only EU country with no controls on arms brokering. His statement unfortunately echoes the head-in-the-sand approach to governance that we have seen over the past ten years, although the Bill is hopefully an indication that the Minister of State and the Government have moved a step closer to joined-up thinking. Only by acknowledging that Ireland has an arms trade can such a trade be controlled.

I am concerned about the question of how much the Minister of State's misconstruction of the true state of affairs has influenced certain inadequacies in the Bill, which makes no provision for issues such as a monitoring system for end-users of potential exports. The degree to which the legislation will exercise control over Irish citizens relocating out of Europe, thereby bypassing European checks, is unclear. There is also no provision to inform the public on what is being exported from Ireland or about the end-uses of such exports. The need for this Bill also arises from the fact that the EU does not yet have a common peace and defence policy. National governments decide on these issues, with a variety of approaches being taken throughout the EU as a result. Ireland must take a full and active role in the development of any common defence policy.

The Control of Exports Bill presented to Seanad Éireann on 22 February 2007 represented a necessary update on the previous legislation, the Control of Exports Act 1983. In contrast to the dual-use area, where under the European Communities (Control of Exports of Dual-Use Items) Regulations 2000, licensing officials have extensive inspection powers, there is no statutory right under this Act for licensing officials to carry out an audit of companies that export military items. New legislation was recommended in the report of a 2004 interdepartmental review chaired by Forfás on export licensing of military and dual-use goods in Ireland. The review of Ireland's export controls system for military and dual-use goods was undertaken with a view to recommending how best we can modernise and strengthen the controls and ensure full compliance with Ireland's international obligations.

Amnesty International's Irish section welcomed the Bill but outlined a number of issues in its August 2007 report, Controlling a Deadly Trade. The Amnesty report made several recommendations on effective legislation to control the trade in military, security and police goods in Ireland. While broadly welcoming the Bill, Amnesty was critical of its failure to provide several definitions which are to be made by ministerial order and was concerned that the as yet unpublished definitions would not be adequate to control some of the military and security goods and services in which Irish companies are involved. It also pointed out that details provided by ministerial orders will not be subject to the same level of scrutiny as those provided for in the Bill.

The arms industry is a massive global business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It is estimated that over $1 trillion is spent on military expenditures and arms worldwide each year. The control of arms campaign founded by Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms estimates that over 6,000 million small arms are in circulation and that more than 1,135 companies based in at least 98 different countries manufacture small arms. An estimated 500,000 individuals die in small arms conflicts each year, or approximately one death per minute.

This is the nub of the matter for Ireland. Thankfully, we do not feature on the list of the world's largest arms exporters nor could we be considered as manufacturers of large amounts of arms. However, there are companies in operation in this country whose products come under the provisions of this Bill. The economic impact of the proposed legislation on the approximately six Irish companies which export military items is expected to be negligible. These companies are already obliged to comply with existing exporting rules so there should be no increased administrative or financial burden.

In light of our professed neutrality and to copperfasten our licensing activities and export policy, I strongly support the establishment of a dedicated committee to bring together all relevant Departments to monitor such policies, modelled on a similar committee which has already been successfully established in the UK.

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