Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the Amnesty International report identifying Irish involvement in supplying weapons to Sudan, thus fuelling the conflict in Darfur; the actions he intends to take as a consequence; and if steps will be taken for the immediate suspension of all transfers of arms and related logistical and security supplies to Sudan. [5533/05]

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The allegation concerning the involvement of an Irish-registered company in financing illegal arms sales to Sudan originally appeared in a UK newspaper article in September 2004. Subsequently, in the context of its November 2004 report on the arms trade involving Sudan, Amnesty International referred to documentation, described as an end-use certificate, purporting to show that the Irish company was authorised to negotiate for the sale of military equipment to the Sudanese defence forces.

My Department investigated the allegations in relation to the role of the Irish company. In this regard, it was established that the company was dormant and had not traded since its establishment in 1990. Moreover, the beneficial owner of the Irish company strongly denied any involvement, either by himself or his company, in the alleged arms deal. On the basis of the investigation, no evidence emerged of any involvement in illegal brokering activities by the Irish company.

An EU arms embargo against Sudan is already in place. Council Common Position 2004/31/CFSP of 9 January, 2004 provides for an arms embargo including a ban on technical and financial assistance to military activities, with exemptions for humanitarian and de-mining equipment.

The Government has recently approved the drafting of new legislation in the area of export controls for military goods. The proposed new legislation, as recommended by the Forfás review, provides for the introduction of new controls on arms brokering and on the provision of certain types of technical assistance. Existing legislation will be also updated to provide, inter alia, for increased penalties for non-compliance with export control legislation and for the statutory right for the inspection and audit of companies that export military goods. The introduction of this new legislation will ensure that Ireland meets its EU and international obligations in full and equally ensures that its procedures are not overly restrictive as to make Ireland an unattractive location by international standards for mobile activity in legitimate industries.