Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note the Minister's figures for this year. In 2014 there were 50 dual-use licences for exports to Saudi Arabia and in 2013 we issued nine military licences for export to the same place. If she is telling me there are no current ones, that is good. However, I would be very surprised to hear there are no current dual-use applications before the Department because in 2014 to the UAE there were 51 such applications. Dual-use items are not innocuous; they can have a military role.

We are trying to get to the heart of the following question. What are the mechanisms to scrutinise this? The small arms survey was quite shocking in revealing a lack of transparency in these countries particularly. They are among the least transparent in terms of arms trading. The UAE came last. Saudi Arabia was below North Korea and Iran. Ammunition sold to Qatar, for example, has ended up in Libya. There is a European Parliament ban on military exports, but the Netherlands has gone further and banned dual use exports.

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