Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On 6 March, Lithuania officially withdrew from the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. That is the convention that bans the production and the use of cluster munitions. It is one of particular significance to Ireland because Ireland hosted the negotiations in Croke Park in 2008 that banned these horrendous weapons and got global support for their phasing out. A total of 124 states signed up to that ban. Lithuania has now withdrawn, the first state to ever withdraw from this international agreement banning this class of weaponry.

As a reminder of what cluster munitions are, they are a type of weapons, often called landmines from sky, where canisters of up to hundreds of explosive devices called submunitions scatter randomly over wide areas. Due to the random nature of cluster munitions, there is a no way of preventing civilian casualties when they are used. As they tend to fail to detonate on impact, they often become landmines and are particularly notorious for attracting children, leading to the loss of limbs or life for children. I met many of the amputees in Croke Park because I was there when the ban was negotiated. It was, as I said, a moment Ireland should be proud of, at a time when we were valuing our record on neutrality, disarmament and being a force for peace and humanity in the world. A total of 71% of the casualties from unexploded cluster munitions are children, with submunitions landing on farms, in streets and in playgrounds. Those who survive the blasts are often left with lost limbs and damage to their eyes. Often the munitions fall in unresourced and poverty-stricken conflict or post-conflict areas where access to treatment or rehabilitation is not available.

The year 2022 was deadliest year on record for the use of cluster munitions since the convention was ratified in 2008. Globally, after a decade and more, when we all understood how awful these weapons are, we are now seeing their use increasing. In Ukraine, at least 809 people have been killed because of the use of cluster munitions through the increase of the intensity in 2022 of Russia's aerial campaign over Ukraine and, very sadly, because Ukraine lobbied for and received cluster munitions from the United States. Russia, the United States and Ukraine are three of the very few countries in the world which are not signatories to this convention. Crucially, there is no moral use of these weapons in any conflict because of the nature of the weapons and the way they target civilians.

Ireland hosted the negotiations in 2008. What actions are being taken now? What leadership is Ireland giving now, in terms of its role to have, first, attempted to dissuade Lithuania from its withdrawal from this convention, to respond to the formal withdrawal of Lithuania from this convention, to discourage other states from withdrawing from the convention, and to widely discourage the production and use of cluster munitions anywhere? This is crucial because we have a time when there is somewhat of a glamorisation of what arms are and what militarisation means. If Ireland is going to have a moral voice, we need to see right now that it is giving moral leadership, including, when necessary, to our EU allies who propose to use weapons that are unconscionable.