Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every time we raise this question, the Minister sticks to the line that military export licence applications "are carefully assessed ... having regard to the end use and the end user and against well-established criteria". He always tells us that "such applications are subject to rigorous scrutiny and are considered in the light of ... the 1998 EU code of conduct on arms exports". He also tells us that these applications are carefully assessed to work out what the end use will be. I do not understand how any export of military list items to Israel can be said to be rigorously scrutinised in any way. The scale of Israel's human rights abuses and breaches of international law is unmatched in the developed world. It is impossible to argue that any future decision to sell components to Israel will have been made rigorously. I ask the Minister to explain why Ireland will potentially continue to issue licences for the export of military list items to Israel. I suggest that this country is clearly in breach of any code of conduct on arms exports.

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