Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence whether the State is supplying and/or buying or selling arms from/to Israel, or any component parts of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50892/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 72 together.

I am advised that the Department of Defence has purchased defensive equipment from Israeli companies as set out in the table at the foot of this reply. The expenditure primarily relates to Ground Surveillance Radars, Engineering Equipment, Fire Control Systems and the upgrade of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles operated by the Defence Forces.

The principle of competitive tendering for Government contracts is used by the Department of Defence for the acquisition of defensive equipment for the Defence Forces. This is an EU law requirement and in accordance with the Defence and Security Directive. Central to those procedures is the requirement to allow fair competition between suppliers through the submission of tenders following advertising of the tender competition on the e-tenders site and on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), where appropriate.

Such tender competitions are open to any company or country, subject to the terms of all UN, OSCE and EU arms embargos or restrictions. There are no such restrictions or embargos in place on Israel or Israeli companies.

The Department of Defence carries out its procurement functions in accordance with the legal rules in place and is obliged to follow the established procurement principles for the selection of economic operators with regard to the award of contracts.

The Department has not sold or supplied arms to Israel. Any export of weapons to Israel or elsewhere is a matter for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment which regulates the exports of arms from the State.

2020 - €513,672

2021 - €667,318

2022 - €463,730

2023 - €307,500