Amnesty slams Govt’s 'complacency' on Irish arms trade

Amnesty International has criticised what it calls the Government’s complacent attitude to the Irish arms trade.

The human rights organisation published a report today showing how arms exports from the EU were fuelling human rights abuses in developing nations.

The report showed that €240m worth of military goods and €23.7bn worth of dual-use goods had been exported from Ireland since 1997.

Amnesty called on all EU states, including Ireland, to tighten their arms export controls in an effort to address the problem.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Dublin, Jim Loughran of Amnesty’s Irish branch said: "Existing controls are woefully inadequate and there is a dangerous complacency on the part of the Irish Government."