Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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34. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if human rights criteria have been considered when granting export licences for military list products to Israel in the past ten years; if he will confirm that the Israeli Defence Forces are the end user of military list products exported to Israel; and if, on any of these occasions, a licence was refused due to the breaching by Israel of Criterion 2 of the 2008 European Union Common Position on Arms Exports. [28663/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for controls on the export of military items from Ireland. Under Irish law, military export licences have to be sought in respect of the goods and technology, and any components thereof, listed in the Annex to the Control of Exports (Goods and Technology) Order, S.I.216 of 2012 which reflects the EU Common Military List.

The EU Common Military List includes military goods and technology, and components for such items that should be licensed for export from the Union. Items which are classified as “military goods” from an export control perspective and which are exported from Ireland involve components rather than military equipment.

The Department consults with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in respect of all military export licence applications. All military licence applications are subject to rigorous scrutiny, and are considered in the light of the spirit and objectives of the 1998 EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. This Code, which was subsequently adopted in 2008 as an EU Common Position, seeks to safeguard, among other concerns, regional stability and human rights.

Criterion two of the Common Position is “Respect for human rights in the country of final destination as well as respect by that country of international humanitarian law”. This criterion, along with the other criteria of the Common Position, is considered when reviewing any military export licence application.

All applications for military export licenses are very carefully assessed against well-established criteria. Proposed exports of Military List products to Israel, as with all other destinations, are subject to a rigorous licence application process which centres on a careful assessment of the nature of the product in question and the proposed end-user and end-use.

In view of security concerns and the relatively small number of export licence holders, it is the policy of my Department not to provide details as to whether or not a certain end-user was supplied controlled goods under an export licence. Confirming this detail, or where such exports took place, providing the information requested by the Deputy, would potentially allow exporters to be identified.

Similarly, it is the policy of my Department to not identify the end-users or destinations associated with denied export licence applications.

The Information Commissioner has previously affirmed my Department's decision to not release confidential export licensing information that could identify export licence holders.

From the data currently to hand I have however provided below details of licences issued for the export of Military List items to all end-users in Israel from 2011 to date.

Licences issued for the export of Military List items to Israel, 2011 to date

Eleven licences for the export of Military List items to Israel have been issued from 2011 to date. Details are provided below.

2011

Three licences for the export of Military List products to Israel were issued in 2011, to the total value of €6.138 million. Two licences were issued for Military List (ML) “category 6” items while one was issued for ML “category 22” items. The ML “category 6 “refers to “Ground Vehicles and Components”, while ML “category 22” refers to “Technology”. “Technology” is that which is “required for the development, production or use of items or components specified in the EU Common Military List”.

2012

One licence for the export of Military List products to Israel was issued in 2012. The value of the licence was €39,525 and it was issued for ML “category 6” items, i.e. “Ground Vehicles and Components”.

2013

Five licences for the export of Military List products to Israel were issued in 2013, to the total value of €119,971. Two licences were issued for ML “category 6” items while three were issued for ML “category 10” items. The ML “category 10” refers to “Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles “UAVs”), aero-engines and aircraft equipment, related equipment, and components”.

2014

Two licences for the export of Military List products to Israel were issued during the first quarter of 2014, to the total value of €126,637. Both licences were issued for ML “category 6” items. I can confirm that no licences for the export of Military List products to Israel have been granted since the end of the first quarter of 2014. No applications for the export of Military List products to Israel have been received during that period.

The figures provided above represent the maximum value which can be exported under the above export licences and not the value of the goods and technology actually exported under those licences. It is important to recall that items which were classified as “military goods” from an export control perspective and which were exported from Ireland involved components for inclusion in, rather than finished military equipment.