Public scrutiny of Irish arms export licenses needed

national | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Saturday February 28, 2004 13:36

by Eoin Dubsky

When a publican wants to renew his license to sell intoxicating liquor we are all equally entitled to make an objection, in writing or in person to the District Court. If the same guy wanted to start, say, a salmon farm in a nearby estuary (polluting it), he would have to post notices in the papers to alert the public of his plans, who once again could try to stop him with objections and appeals. If his business involved selling lethal weapons for export to regimes which torture and kill their opponents, guess what, his license application would be dealt with in secret by Mary Harney's functionaries in the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment. No public scrutiny, not even parliamentary scrutiny.

The Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment is reviewing Ireland's current arms export control regime, which was slammed by Amnesty International in their 2001 report "Ireland and the arms trade" and by AfrI in their 1996 "Links Report".

On their website, AI wrote: "The present export control system is inadequate in terms of transparency, and accountability and there is no effective parliamentary scrutiny. If the government is to be held accountable to its commitment to human rights, it is essential that the information on military and dual use goods transferred is easily accessible to the public, up-to-date and comprehensive." (http://www.amnesty.ie/user/content/view/full/577)

Parliamentary scrutiny isn't good enough by far though, we need public scrutiny of the arms trade. Ideally every time someone seeks a license to export MSP ("military, security or police") technology they need to post notices in the newspapers, produce a freely-accessible human rights impact assessment (like an environmental impact assessment for the salmon farm in the estuary), and need the concent of the community. There should be a public appeals process too, like there is for planning and pollution licensing.