Politics

Ireland’s only arms contract with Israel is €295,000 a year for drone maintenance - Martin

Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh says State should never have purchased equipment from Israel

Micheál Martin expressed 'reservations; in the Dáil about Israel over its armaments industry and the procurement of equipment for the Irish Defence Forces but he insisted that the State follows international laws for the purchase of armaments. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Marie O'Halloran
Thu Mar 21 2024 - 12:36

Ireland’s only current armaments contract with Israeli weapons manufacturers is an annual €295,000 fee for the support and maintenance of drones it purchased from an arms company, the Tánaiste has said.

Micheál Martin expressed “reservations” in the Dáil about Israel over its armaments industry and the procurement of equipment for the Irish Defence Forces but he insisted that the State follows international laws for the purchase of armaments.

He said that “tender competitions are up to any company or country subject to the terms of all United Nations or OSCE and European Union arms embargoes, or restrictions. There are no such restrictions or embargo is in place on Israel or Israeli companies.”

The Government anticipates an annual €295,000 charge for the maintenance of its drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), under its only current armaments contract with Israel. However, in the past decade the Department of Defence has paid at least €8.5 million to Israeli weapons manufacturers for the UAVs, advanced targeting equipment, ground radar systems and communications systems as well as maintenance and training.

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Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said “there is no ethical component to the purchasing of weapons from Israel or any other country which is at war, given the slaughter that’s happening in Gaza at present”.

The Dublin South-Central TD has over the years repeatedly raised in the Dáil the issue of Ireland’s purchase of military equipment from Israel.

Given the “history of Israeli actions in relation to Palestine, there should have never been any purchase of any equipment for the Irish Defence Forces”, he said.

“The fact that we purchased aerial vehicle drones from them and that they are still involved in the maintenance of those and therefore can gather information off their uses and then put that information to use in attacking civilians in Gaza is very, very suspect.”

But Mr Martin said “I think it’s a stretch to suggest UAVs at some point add knowledge in terms of how we use those, with subsequent use in attacks in Gaza”.

Sinn Féin defence spokesman Matt Carthy said that since 2018 six members of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had undertaken training in Ireland in the UN training school, under Nato’s Partnership for Peace programme.

“I have to say it’s abhorrent to me that Ireland would have facilitated the training of members of the IDF over the past 13 years, throughout which Palestinian were being subjected to brutal oppression and onslaught by the IDF.”

Mr Martin said that it was a UN training programme and “we don’t get to choose which members of the United Nations want to participate in a training programme”, and it was open to people to apply if they were UN members.

Mr Ó Snodaigh said Ireland needs to suspend all such trade “and we also need to campaign in the EU in the UN for all such trade to be suspended ... especially in terms of defence contracts.”

The Tánaiste said that Ireland and Spain had written to the EU Commission president calling for a review of the trade association agreement with Israel. “In terms of our view of Israelis noncompliance with the Human Rights clauses within that trade association, we are campaigning in respect of this issue and using every mechanism we have available to us to raise these issues.”

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish Times

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