Computer company cleared of export breach

Fri, 17 Jan, 2003 - 00:00

Niall Murray AN Irish computer operation has been cleared of illegally exporting software used in nuclear weapons programmes in the United States and France.

The decision by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was criticised last night by Amnesty International.

The Compaq plant in Galway develops the software used for testing safety in nuclear weapons programmes.

The department’s trade division investigated the matter after it was highlighted by the Irish Examiner.

But the inquiry found that the company was not in breach of regulations which require a licence for the export of software designed for modelling, simulation or evaluation of military weapon systems.

“The software was exported to a sister company in Scotland, which is within the EU and does not, therefore, need a licence,” said a department spokesperson

Compaq is a division of Hewlett Packard, which said it was delighted the matter had been cleared

However, Amnesty criticised the department for not looking at the bigger picture and investigating whether the goods were re-exported after being sent to Scotland.