Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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77. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 49 of 11 July 2024, the details of his engagement with the Department of Foreign Affairs in respect of all dual-use and military export licence applications for goods manufactured in Ireland granted for export to Israel since October 2023; the number of times such applications were refused on foot of engagement with the Department of Foreign Affairs or otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43210/24]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is the National Competent Authority with responsibility for Export Controls, including Controls on defence-related exports and exports of dual-use goods. Controls on the export of dual-use items are administered by my Department, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council setting up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items. The EU dual-use regulation has direct effect across the EU. The Control of Exports Act 2023 streamlines and strengthens the existing Irish export control framework, replacing the Control of Exports Act 2008, and provides for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for infringements of the regulation’s provisions.

On receipt of an application for an export licence, my officials carry out a thorough risk assessment and evaluate all available information. This assessment includes a series of checks (including consultations with technical experts where relevant) to ensure, as far as possible, that the item to be exported will be used by the stated end-user for the stated end-use and will not be used for illicit purposes. As part of their assessment, my officials seek the views of the Department of Foreign Affairs in respect of all applications for export licences, including those destined for Israeli end users.

Both my own Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs, on request of my Department, review all dual-use export licence applications against the eight assessment criteria set out in Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP. The Department of Foreign Affairs provides observations against those criteria in respect of these applications.

The vast majority of dual-use goods exported from Ireland, including to Israel, are mainstream business ICT products, both hardware and software (networking, data storage, cybersecurity etc) that are categorised as dual-use items as a consequence of the fact that they incorporate strong encryption for ICT security purposes.

In the period from October 2023 no denials have issued for applications related to the export of dual use items to Israel.

There are no military exports from Ireland to Israel and no applications have been received in the period from October 2023 to now.