Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I welcome the debate on this Bill at a time when we are also debating the future of Ireland's role in the European Union and various issues of foreign and military policy, a good example of assertive and positive Irish neutrality.

Fine Gael is to be commended for introducing this Bill. There is a need for national legislation on cluster munitions and I welcome the forthcoming international convention to be hosted in Dublin on the issue. The use of such munitions has been painfully clear in conflicts across the globe in recent years. They have not only been used by allied forces in Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan but by Israeli forces in the Lebanon and NATO forces in Kosovo, where it is estimated 30,000 unexploded bomblets remain. Can one imagine being a parent there in fear of one's children picking up one of these gaudily coloured bomblets, knowing it could rip their lives apart?

The UK Ministry of Defence estimates 60% of 531 cluster bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force during the Kosovo conflict missed their intended targets. The devastating nature of these bombs, which have indiscriminate and delayed impacts, is highlighted by UN statistics that state between 5% and 12% of such munitions do not explode on impact. They are a horrible, horrible weapon.

A recent report by Handicap International stated that research from 24 countries showed more than 11,000 confirmed casualties from cluster munitions. The figure could be as high as 100,000. Of the 11,044 cases discovered, 3,830 people were killed and the remainder injured. The term "remainder injured" is very easy to say; those people are maimed for life.

While approximately 98% of casualties were civilian, we will never know the full damage. I personally saw the effects of these bombs in south-east Asia in the late 1970s when I visited the Burmese-Vietnam-northern Thailand border. I saw people streaming across the border, fleeing conflict. Many were maimed, missing limbs, presumably due to landmines and cluster bombs. It was a horrible sight.

I welcome the Government's efforts in leading the way on securing a convention outlawing such munitions and creating a new norm of international humanitarian law. Following on from the success of the Ottawa Convention and the consensus and military practices arising from it, the prospect of a Dublin convention, spearheaded by Norway, Austria and Ireland among others, is a result of sustained and energetic work from the Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern.

Another example of positive and ethical legislation emanating from the Government is the Control of Exports Act 2008, which I shadowed through the Dáil. Significant improvements have been secured by post shipment checking to ensure exports do not have a dual use and end up in the hands of those who want to maim and kill others in conflicts in China, Tibet, Burma and Pakistan.

Deputy Ó Caoláin referred to the issue of ethical investment by the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission. My Green Party colleague Senator Boyle did much work in this area. It is important to ensure our pension moneys work ethically with no negative impact and exclude those involved in the manufacture of cluster munitions. The Green Party will work to ensure the ethical efficacy of the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

I welcome this debate and look forward to comprehensive precedent-setting legislation on cluster munitions.

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