Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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66. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will outline the process his Department uses to assess the granting of export licences for dual-use goods to Israel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16986/24]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State outline the process the Department uses to assess the granting of export licences for dual-use goods to Israel and make a statement on the matter? This question is in the context of Gaza and the worries about a wider escalation. We have seen a genocidal slaughter. We need to ensure that we are in no way, shape or form doing anything that would facilitate the weapon systems being used against the Palestinian people.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas don Teachta as an ceist.

Our Department is the national competent authority with responsibility for export controls, including controls on defence-related exports and exports of dual-use goods. Controls on the export of dual-use items are administered by my Department, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which set up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items. Dual-use items are products and components, including software and technology, that can be used for both civil and military applications.

All export licence applications, including those indicating an end destination in Israel, are considered by my officials in accordance with criteria set out within the relevant dual-use and military EU and national regulations and with Ireland's international obligations and responsibilities as a member of non-proliferation regimes and export control arrangements. On receipt of an application for an export licence, my officials carry out an assessment which includes a series of checks to ensure, as far as possible, that the item to be exported will be used by the stated end user for the stated end use and will not be used for illicit purposes.

As part of their assessment, officials in my Department seek the views of officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs in respect of all applications for export licences, including those destined for Israeli end users. Both our own Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs review all dual-use export licence applications against the eight assessment criteria set out in the Council common position, including "Respect for human rights in the country of final destination as well as respect by that country of international humanitarian law" and "Internal situation in the country of final destination, as a function of the existence of tensions or armed conflicts".

Accordingly, when making their assessment of an application, my officials are furnished with the most up-to-date information, including consultations with technical experts where relevant, which they take into account in the final risk assessment to determine whether to grant an export licence.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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My follow-up relates to the criteria and how stringent the assessment and the tests are. Is the Minister of State particularly happy? He mentioned consultations with technical experts. We are talking about computer software and whatever and, as he said, dual-use goods. Some of these can be used for normal necessary regular civilian operations but others can also be used in weapons of mass destruction, as we have seen in the likes of Israel over the past while. It is vital for the Minister of State to give some more detail on these criteria.

Is there anything that we can do to make sure? From the Minister of State's point of view, are we covering all the bases so that he could rest assured that in everything that passes through here that falls into the category of dual use the criteria are sufficient to make sure it does not end up in weapon systems being used by the likes of the Israeli regime?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I absolutely share the Deputy's views on this space and can assure him that applications for dual-use licences in respect of exports to Israel are assessed pretty rigorously on a case-by-case basis in line with the assessment criteria I outlined. There are eight criteria, but the two specific criteria to which I referred are important in this context.

We also seek real-time geopolitical observations from the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is not the Department of enterprise's view alone. We get the most up-to-date political view from the Department of Foreign Affairs and its views are also included in the final decision to grant or deny a licence.

That process is rigorous. There is a series of checks, in so far as we can, to ensure the item to be exported will be used by the stated end-user for the stated end purpose, which is really important, and it will not be used or diverted for any other purposes.

I assure the Deputy that there is no export of military goods from Ireland to Israel.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome what the Minister of States said in the sense that what we are talking about is a rigorous assessment and that the geopolitical situation and all updated information at the time is taken into account. If information were to arise at any point in time that an end-user ended up using something in a weapons system where it had stated previously that this would not be the case, that would result in follow-up and would have an impact into the future. The best-case scenario is that all our checks worked perfectly and we did that, but we need to make sure as best as possible.

We know what is happening at the minute. We know the dangers. We can see exactly what the Israeli regime is doing in Gaza and further afield. We have to do those parts we can ourselves. We need to make sure that no weapons are transferred, even through Ireland, at this point in time. We need to make sure the pressure is kept on regarding the review of the EU-Israel association agreement. Beyond that, we need to make moves as quickly as possible, alongside others, on the recognition of the state of Palestine. Then we need to deal with other stuff, including the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. Beyond that, while we have made moves on divestment from companies that have been involved in illegal settlements, we need to make sure that moves from €2.9 million to €4.2 million and that no moneys this State is investing are involved in what is a genocidal apartheid regime in Israel.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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If there is any issue in terms of a licence not being followed through and the conditions of a licence being breached, we will bring those to the attention of the authorities within the export licensing section of the Department. If there is any question of the conditions of a licence being breached, that will be investigated.