Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators. I came in to take over from the Minister, Deputy O’Brien. I have been listening intently and taking notes. As the Minister said, this Bill is not perfect. We need to engage with Department officials and see if we can make it work.

Senator Craughwell asked a question about the application for exemption. The exemptions fall into two main categories. One is for US civil air operators contracted to carry US military personnel with their unloaded personal issue weapons, which require an exemption if they operate in Irish sovereign territory, including overflights or scheduled flights to Europe by Irish-registered aircraft carriers operating outside of Ireland. Exemptions that issued in respect of the latter category increased by 68% between 2023 and 2024. This increased activity began in October 2023. The increase is attributed to operational changes that resulted in Irish-registered aircraft now flying in areas where the carriage of armed law enforcement personnel is a more regular occurrence.

We will have to delve into the reasons for the increases. This goes back to the point made by the Minister. I take on board what Senators are saying about what they want to achieve. It is important to recognise that. I think we have seen enough of the destruction of human life in Ukraine and Gaza. There are no winners in war. Everybody blames somebody else, but blaming is no good to the men, women and children who are dead. There is a lot of conflict in the world, and we have to make sure Ireland upholds international law. The Government has made statements on the recognition of Palestine, which has to be acknowledged. It did that against a lot of international pressure not to do it. It is important we recognise that as well.

As the Minister said, there needs to be engagement before this Bill goes to Report Stage. I thank the Senators for their input. I know everybody is genuine. We have to try to find something that will work. The biggest thing with legislation is that it has to be effective and workable. If we do something with legislation that is not going to work or is found to be flawed after it has passed, then we will have done a disservice.