Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
132. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline Ireland’s position at the United Nations and other relevant international forums regarding lethal autonomous weapon systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53571/23]
View answerAutonomous Weapons Systems raise important challenges with respect to human control and judgement over the use of force, as well as humanitarian, legal, security and ethical perspectives.
It is our position is that human beings must make decisions with regards to the use of force. Systems that do not incorporate human control must not be developed, deployed or used.
Ireland is actively engaged in international discussions on this issue. The primary international forum for discussions on lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS) is the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on LAWS. This forum sits under the United Nations (UN) Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), for which Ireland is a High Contracting Party. Ireland has, and continues to be an active participant on LAWS within this group and other CCW fora.
We continue to raise Ireland’s position on LAWS in broader international and regional disarmament fora, including UN General Assembly First Committee, where we recently co-sponsored Austria’s First Committee Resolution on LAWS at the 78th Session of First Committee.
Ireland has also engaged on other recent initiatives that are in development regarding broader military uses of artificial intelligence, including in relation to their potential role on LAWS. These include attendance at the Dutch hosted REAIM Summit in February 2023 - an initiative on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain, and endorsement of the US Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of AI and Autonomy in November 2023.
