Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to speak on this motion because it is so important and timely. The action being taken by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in developing a diplomatic conference in Croke Park is an action on an international level of which we can all be proud.

Cluster munitions are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions, with the most common types intended to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles. Submunition-based weapons, designed to destroy runways and electric power transmission lines, deliver chemical or biological weapons or to scatter landmines, have also been produced. Submunition-based weapons can disperse non-munition payloads such as leaflets, although it is not recommended for one to canvass in this way.

It is unfortunate that these cluster bombs, although they are made for a particular use, cause suffering to innocent people such as civilians and, very often, children living in an area.

I was delighted that on 31 March and 1 April there was a conference of 39 African countries in Livingstone in Zambia to discuss cluster munitions. At the conference, the Dublin diplomatic conference was noted as one of the major areas in which action will be taken and these African countries are certainly looking forward to coming over to see that an effective and binding international instrument can be debated, agreed and put in place.

It was interesting that two countries, Egypt and South Africa, decided they did not fully want to go along with this. Egypt would not agree with the policy because it manufactures the cluster bombs and South Africa sought exemptions for certain types of cluster munitions.

This is all based on the declaration of the Wellington conference on cluster bombs held in February this year. The idea is that a solution will be concluded in 2008 — we hope it will come with the diplomatic conference in Dublin in May. It is affirmed that the essential elements of such an international binding legal instrument would include a prohibition on the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. There should also be a framework for co-operation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education and destruction of stockpiles.

Some 82 countries signed the declaration. Conspicuous by their absence were the United States and Israel. As Deputy Mary White stated, with the destruction which has been caused in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq, it is disgraceful that the US and Israel try to wash their hands of responsibility in this matter.

I hope this resolution will be put in place at the Dublin conference and Ireland will be the first country in the world to sign up to that convention on a legal basis by having a Bill published, as the Minister stated is his intention. I am delighted this matter was brought up for discussion and I hope the project of a binding international agreement prohibiting cluster bombs will be put in place in the near future.

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