Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I remain deeply concerned by the human rights and humanitarian situation in Tigray, including the ongoing blockade of the region and attacks on humanitarian workers. As famine-like conditions are reported, and in light of the recent ground offensive, there is an urgent need for full humanitarian access, a negotiated ceasefire, and the commencement of political dialogue to find a resolution to the conflict.

Ireland continues to strongly advocate for an urgent response to the crisis, and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict - through our bilateral engagement, our EU membership, and at the UN Security Council.  

I am alarmed by the conflict’s impact on civilians, including harrowing reports of widespread and ongoing sexual violence, and other serious human rights violations and abuses.   It is vital that perpetrators be held to account.  In this regard, Ireland strongly supports the work underway by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), to investigate reported atrocities. We are currently awaiting publication of their joint report on 1 November, which will be a crucial first step towards accountability.

I am aware of the media reports to which the Deputy’s question refers.

Ireland adheres strictly to the terms of the Arms Trade Treaty, which is a treaty regulating the international trade in conventional arms and which seeks to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade and diversion of conventional arms by establishing international standards on arms transfers. Furthermore, Ireland is a member of several multilateral export control regimes. All export licence applications for military goods are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and are subject to EU Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP. This sets out eight risk criteria against which licences should be assessed, and defines common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment.

While the Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the provision of diplomatic clearance to foreign military and State aircraft to land in and overfly the State, the operations of civil aircraft, including those under contract to other States, are regulated by the Department of Transport.

The Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973 prohibits the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft, including on troop-carrying civil aviation operators, through Irish airspace or Irish airports, unless an exemption has been granted by the Minister for Transport.  The process in place around the granting of such permission by the Minister for Transport is robust and includes seeking the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs on any implications for Ireland's policy of military neutrality.

I am not aware of any such applications by the Ethiopian authorities or of any suggestion that arms or other materiel used in the conflict in Ethiopia could have been transited through Ireland.