John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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105.To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if as some media reports suggest, Ireland pays an Israeli government owned weapons company (details supplied) €295,000 each year to maintain drones bought from it, which the same company supplying aerial vehicles and drones being used to kill Palestinian people in Gaza; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24982/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Defence Forces Artillery Corps use Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems to conduct reconnaissance operations, i.e. non-lethal operations. These UAV systems were procured between 2007 and 2009 from Aeronautics Defence Systems Ltd based in Israel following a competitive tender process, and an upgrade of the equipment was carried out by the original equipment manufacturer commencing in 2016.

Current contractual arrangements extend to the support and maintenance of the Defence Forces existing fleet of unarmed UAVs, with an anticipated annual cost of €295,000.

The platform is planned to continue in service until it reaches end of life, at which stage a replacement will be considered in the context of Defence Forces capability development and available funding, and in line with public procurement procedures.

A small number of Israeli companies have won orders for defensive equipment in recent years as a result of tender competitions. This is not a new development. In each case, the contract was awarded by tender competition, on the basis that the company concerned had submitted the most economically advantageous tender. The most recent procurement of goods from Israel or Israeli firms was in 2021.

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. Central to those procurement procedures are EU law requirements that have to be complied with. This is to ensure fair competition, transparency and equal treatment between suppliers through the advertising of the tender competition on the e-Tenders or the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) tender platforms.

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. Under both GATT and EU procurement law requirements, the Department of Defence is required to deal impartially with all companies that are entitled to enter tender competitions and tenders must be evaluated on the basis of objective criteria. Both the EU and Israel are members of GATT which has established a Government procurement agreement under which EU Member States and Israel can participate in procurement competitions hosted by each other.