Vol. 543 No. 2
150 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has read the recent Amnesty Report, Ireland and the Arms Trade; her views on the situation outlined in the report; and if she will implement the recommendations outlined in the report. [26320/01]
I have noted the recent Amnesty report titled, Ireland and the Arms Trade – Decoding the Deals. From the outset, I wish to reject totally the suggestion in the report that my Department's export controls system is designed to frustrate parliamentary scrutiny and careful attempts to discover the level and extent of exports of controlled goods. The Department operates one of the more transparent systems of reporting within the European Union. This was clearly recognised by a partner organisation of Amnesty – Saferworld. In a 2000 report entitled, Transparency and Accountability in European Arms Exports Controls, Saferworld concluded that, with regard to dual-use exports, the Irish system allows the greatest level of transparency, with the publication of monthly statistics on the Internet.
There is, of course, always room for improvement. It is clear from the Amnesty report that many of their concerns regarding exports from Ireland of controlled goods arise in the context of the provision of information. I have asked my officials to examine how the information presented in this regard can be improved to increase further the level of transparency and address these concerns.
The Amnesty report raises some further important issues in the area of export controls, for example, with regard to brokering, licensed production and end-use monitoring. These issues are the subject of ongoing consideration by my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs in the context of Ireland's participation in a number of international non-proliferation regimes and the EU.
The two Departments have already taken steps to ensure that our practice of recording denial notifications in relation to exports of military goods is fully compliant with the requirements of the EU code of conduct.
