Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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76. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if his Department plans to avail of SAFE funding; the guarantees his Department has sought to ensure any joint procurement for the Defence Forces under SAFE will not involve the purchase of cluster munitions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60395/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The SAFE (Security Action for Europe) is an EU instrument designed to provide Member States with up to €150 billion of loans backed by the EU budget to provide financial assistance to Member States to support their urgent public investments in defence industrial production, aiming to increase production capacity, improve the availability of defence products and address capability gaps. Ireland has supported the adoption of the SAFE instrument.

Availing of the possibilities available under the SAFE Regulation will allow Ireland to realise this ambition more quickly and more efficiently.

I am determined to provide for the development of a full spectrum of Defence Force Capabilities that will bring Ireland in line with other similar-sized European countries.

In the first instance, I have agreed that the Department of Defence should leverage the common procurement opportunities offered under the SAFE (Security Action for Europe) Regulation as much as possible to progress delivery of Ireland’s defence capabilities needs as quickly as possible. In terms of the funding mechanism a decision was taken in conjunction with the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation not to draw down funding via the loan mechanism at this time, but we will continue to engage constructively on the SAFE instrument.

Concerning the procurement of Cluster Munitions for the Defence Forces under SAFE, during the negotiations pertaining to the drafting of the SAFE Regulation, Ireland sought the inclusion of text to ensure that funding accessed through SAFE is not utilised for the purchase of Cluster Munitions. This text was subsequently inserted in Recital 36 of the SAFE Regulation and states that ‘This Regulation is without prejudice to applicable international law prohibiting the use, development or production of certain defence products and technologies’.

As such, Recital 36 ensures Member States international obligations, including under the Dublin Convention on Cluster Munitions, are respected. As SAFE funding is a loan and not a grant from the Union Budget, such funding will form part of the participating Member State’s defence budget. Ultimately it falls to the Member State how that budget is spent.

Defence expenditure remains a national competency and the Department of Defence does not purchase or utilise Cluster Munitions. In addition, Ireland is both bound by and has ratified several international conventions and treaties that prohibit the manufacture, storage, deployment and use of prescribed lethal munitions. These are binding legal obligations which are fully observed in all Department of Defence procurement considerations and in the course of Defence Force operations.