John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I thank Members for their good wishes on my appointment as Minister of State. I look forward to the challenge and to working with spokespersons and will do what I can to make our engagement more informative and to meet and discuss any issues of concern.

Some issues raised will be dealt with in the form of amendments on Committee Stage and I am willing to consider amendments in order to achieve what we can through the Bill. Irish citizens will be subject to controls, even if located abroad and this is covered in section 3(2)(b) of the Bill. Ministerial orders will be put in place to provide for consultation and will come before the Houses for debate.

On transparency, the first annual report will be placed in the Oireachtas Library for comment by Oireachtas Members. That debate will inform further annual reports in terms of direction and content, which will improve transparency. The report will be debated in the Dáil or Seanad and the regulations in the report can be debated by Oireachtas committees at any stage. Members with an interest in the area may bring appropriate professionals to committees for an exchange of view. Issues can be raised, therefore, in various ways and thereby improve transparency.

Ireland abides fully by the EU code of conduct on arms exports. One Deputy raised the issue of end-use monitoring, to which I referred in my opening remarks on this debate. As stated, we will bring in regulations and controls on the industry in terms of its responsibility in this regard. Section 7 refers to audit and inspection and broadens the scope of control to include military goods.

I assure Deputy White, my constituency colleague, that we do not contemplate the export by licence to Burma of goods which could be used for internal repression or violation of human rights. I agree with what she said about Burma. She also raised the issues of transparency and the annual report. We must always be open, in the context of this debate, to changes in the legislation, to changes in the annual report and to keeping in line with best practice, as is the intention of the Department.

The European approach was mentioned. All European member states are committed to abiding by the EU code of conduct on arms exports and to controlling military goods on a common EU list. Ireland abides fully by the code of conduct in a way that is completely compatible with all EU regulations.

Deputy Penrose raised the issue of brokering and Irish companies abroad, which I addressed earlier in the context of Irish citizens. I understand the point he was making and we can explore it in greater depth on Committee Stage. The issue of Irish companies abroad was raised in the Seanad and the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, gave a commitment to examine it at the time. My Department is currently examining the issue, as is the Attorney General. It is a complex issue but we will use the opportunity Committee Stage will offer to go into more detail on it.

Support for the arms trade treaty is a central plank of Ireland's foreign policy, and is driven forward by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern. The backdrop to the Bill is regulation in the European Union so we will have to reflect on the issues in that context. Mention was made of military exports and in 2006 military exports amounted to €14.7 million.

I am grateful to Members who contributed to the debate. It is my first Bill before the House and I am pleased it went so well. I hope Committee Stage, which is just as important, will go equally well.

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