Committee on Foreign Affairs - Debate on Cluster Munitions - 6th December 2006

Committee on Foreign Affairs – Debate on Cluster Munitions – 6th December 2006

Senator Norris: I greatly appreciate the Chairman's courtesy. I welcome Mr. D'Costa. I am very glad I was able to stay for his contribution which was absolutely clear. Cluster munitions are horrible. I am very glad he added in something that was not in the text of his written submission, namely, that 98% of the casualties are civilian. This makes cluster munitions a particularly obscene form of weaponry.
There is another point I would like to make before I must leave - and I intend no discourtesy. I understand there is a strong possibility that investment is made on behalf of the Irish taxpayers in some firms that produce cluster bombs. This is done through organs such as the National Pensions Reserve Fund. I have been raising this in the Seanad. I also had a meeting with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Conor Lenihan, who was very positive on the question of ethical investment and divestment from, for example, Sudan. Irish taxpayers' money may be used in this way because of the way in which the remit of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and various other agencies is framed. They may be required to get the highest yield possible and there are no ethical guidelines. The Minister of State indicated that there is a non-binding, exhortative UN framework that it is hoped to abide by but he seemed not to be averse to the introduction of a specific ethical guideline into the remit of the National Pensions Reserve Fund. Has Mr. D'Costa any information on that or would he be prepared to assist us in finding out what the situation is?
These vicious weapons which are not particularly militarily effective and which are directed against the civilian population should be outlawed straight away. There is no moral justification and I very much doubt whether there is even a military justification for them. I would have thought that humanity would have learnt lessons from the tragic lesson of the Vietnam War. The most recent example of the use of cluster munitions was in Lebanon where in the past 72 hours of that tragic, unnecessary and, from the Israelis' point of view, suicidal engagement, a million cluster bombs were left behind. That is a reproach to the conscience of the decent people of Israel, and there are many of them.
I was very pleased that Mr. D'Costa put down a formula of what he would like us to do. I propose to put and amended version on the Order Paper and I hope it can be an all-party motion urging the Government to get involved. I am perfectly certain that our Government and our Minister for Foreign Affairs are as revolted as individual members of both Houses are. Supporting a motion is one practical thing we can do. We can only, however, give a moral lead because we are not a significant military power. Even though we have a strong economy our divestment from some of these companies would be only a pin prick.

However, we may do some good by raising this as an issue. I was not an
uncritical admirer of the late Princess Diana. However, she did two extremely
valuable things; she embraced AIDS patients and stopped them being
untouchable, and just as importantly, she led a campaign against these
vicious and filthy weapons which are a reproach to humanity. I compliment
Mr. D'Costa and Pax Christi on again raising this issue. I hope it will be taken
up by both Houses of the Oireachtas. Perhaps the committee could examine
this resolution and see if there is something in it that we could all agree to
pass.