OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND: Why don’t we know more about Ireland’s €2.4 Billion Military Exports?

What is Ireland’s role in the proliferation of wars around the world and specifically the genocide of the people in Gaza?

5th March 2024

Dear Irish Citizen

If like me, you are devastated by the proliferation of wars  around the world and specifically the genocide of the people of Gaza, I believe it is essential that we look at our own role as a country. I have been extremely alarmed to learn of our growing military exports and believe we should have the right to know what is being produced in Ireland, by whom and where it is going.

According to the “Report under the Control of Exports Act 2008 1st January 2022 – 31st December 2022 (Published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment) Ireland was exporting €2.4 billion (€2,456.1.million) value worth of military, brokering and dual use*  licences  in 2022. This has been steadily increasing every year with very limited public or media commentary. The 2023 figures are not yet available.

 

I believe it is in the public interest to know which companies in Ireland are exporting arms from Ireland and who is getting the dual and military licences?

According to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in a letter to me dated 6^th Feb 2024. 

“It is the longstanding policy of the Department not to publish details of individual transactions or the traders involved in these transactions in order to protect commercially sensitive information. Therefore, all export data is published in aggregated format”. 

Please ask your elected representatives and any media connections you may have:

1. Why are the details about our €2.4 billion of military exports not in the public domain?
2. Who was the specific Global Military Licence, worth €9.4 million in 2022, issued to and for what?
3. What specific products are being produced and by which companies in Ireland and what are they being used for?
4. Can the Irish Government guarantee that none of these components and weapons produced in Ireland are being used for genocide in the current war in Gaza?

I understand that there are many other complex issues in relation to Ireland’s neutrality and ways of addressing them. However I do believe that these exports make us not just complicit in war but active aggressors and that this is NOT the will of the Irish people.

Yours Sincerely

Lisa Fingleton

 

* “Dual-use items are defined as products and components, including software and technology, which can be used for both civilian and military applications”. –

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Dara Calleary

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2023-10-03/9/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20however%2C%20we,%E2%82%AC108.5%20million%20in%202020

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO IMAGES, RESOURCES AND REPORTS ON A GOOGLE DRIVE

RELATED POSTS

Speaking Peace While Selling Arms

 

 

 

 

Walter the Warmonger (Short Story)Walter the Warmonger (Short Story)