Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position of his Department with regard to calls to introduce greater controls on arms and arms production; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19550/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The promotion and support of international efforts to secure appropriate safeguards on the control of arms is a key priority of Irish foreign policy. There is a need to end destabilising accumulations of arms that can increase the potential for violence in areas of tension. There are too many examples of conflicts which are fuelled by the proliferation of conventional weapons. This is especially an issue of concern in Africa, where the proliferation in particular of small arms and light weapons continues to bring much suffering to societies throughout that continent.

The European Council adopted a Joint Action on the European Union's Contribution to combating the Destabilising Accumulation and Uncontrolled Spread of Small Arms and Light Weapons in July 2002. This Joint Action is concerned primarily with enhancing efforts by EU Member States to build consensus in the relevant regional and international fora (such as the UN and OSCE) to prevent the further accumulation of small arms and to ensure that the EU's arms controls are as effective as possible.

More recently, the European Union adopted a common position on arms brokering, in June 2003, requiring Member States to introduce ad hoc legislation to effectively control the activities of brokers. Moreover, the European Council last December endorsed a strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition. The text contains an Action Plan which will be regularly reviewed and updated every six months.

Ireland continues to fully participate in UN meetings dealing with small arms and light weapons issues. Ireland welcomes the fact that an instrument on the marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons was adopted last June. A review conference on the UN Programme of Action on small arms is also scheduled to take place at the United Nations in New York at the end of next month. One of the issues to be discussed at the meeting is the question of agreeing global standards for the transfer of small arms and light weapons, an outcome which Ireland, together with our EU partners, strongly supports.

Ireland has also been active in other fora, such as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The terms of the Convention and its protocols restrict or prohibit specific types of weapons used in armed conflict. Ireland has also ratified the Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention (also known as the Ottawa Convention), which prohibits the production, sale, transfer and use of such landmines.

Ireland also fully and strongly supports the negotiation of an arms trade treaty. At a small arms conference in New York last January, the Austrian Presidency, on behalf of all EU Member States, confirmed the Union's support for such a treaty. We will continue to participate actively within the UN and at other international fora to advance this objective and, more generally, to promote the strengthening of arms controls globally.