Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The problem is the definition of a sensitive application and how we can tell in terms of dual-use goods. To look at one thing on the list, shaped charges can be used to produce warheads but also for quarrying, breaking ice and so on. They are, however, extensively used in missile production - armour-piercing and anti-tank missiles and so on - including in the missile used to shoot down the Russian helicopter that went to collect the pilot when the plane was shot down by the Turkish authorities. How do we know part of that missile did not transit through Ireland? What checks and balances are in place for export licences on the munitions that travel on a regular basis on civilian and military aircraft through Shannon Airport? Is the Minister of State's Department involved in that?

Is it not a problem that countries that we know to be funding ISIS, such as Saudi Arabia, are not on the list for definite scrutiny, while Syria is? We know that huge volumes of exports go there and to Israel, for that matter, a key destabilizer of the Middle East region. The scrutiny the Minister of State says the Department is applying excludes the biggest offenders in the region. That is something that really needs to be looked at.

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