AT least 34 licences for the export of military goods have been issued by the Department of Tourism and Trade to two Irish companies this year. This is revealed by the campaigning group AFrI (Action from Ireland) in its latest report on the involvement of Irish firms in the international arms trade.
In July AFrI reported that armoured vehicle technology, military avionics, radar equipment and gun turret components were among the items produced and exported by Irish firms.
The latest report includes a letter to AFrI from the Department of Tourism and Trade which says that up to October 11th the Department granted 578 dual use licences and 68 military licences.
Dual use licences are for goods which can have both military and civilian uses.
The letter went on: "Of the 68 military licences, six were for the export of privately owned shotguns, 28 concerned exports to our UN peacekeeping forces or goods for temporary export by the Department of Defence, while the remainder represents licences issued to two separate Irish companies - the names of these companies cannot of course be disclosed for confidential reasons.
However the AFrI report names one of them as the Cork based firm, Moog. It says that in the early 1990s Moog became involved in developing an electric drive aiming system for an upgraded version of an air defence gun for a Singapore firm, Allied Ordnance Singapore (AOS).
The general manager of Moog, Mr Thomas Moriarty, confirmed last night that his firm had sold "an electric component which is part of an air defence gun" developed by AOS. But he said that despite what AFrI had implied, not even demonstration models had been supplied to Indonesia and Thailand.
Mr Moriarty said that fewer than 10 per cent of Moog components manufactured in Ireland ended up in defence applications. The AOS contract was a fraction of this, and "this year is probably zero", he went on.
AFrI says Singapore has "a long history of being a conduit for arms diversions to Third World countries."
The second Irish company named in the AFrI report, a Shannon based firm which it says manufactures "military airforce equipment", could not be contacted for comment last night.
In its report, AFrI says that the export of military goods from Ireland is not subject to European controls. Under the Control of Exports Act, "all military goods require a licence, regardless of destination, and all applications are automatically referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs".
It finds that destinations for which licences were issued this year "include countries with dubious human rights records and some that are undemocratic: Argentina, Brazil, Jordan, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey."
AFrI says the Government is flouting four of the eight EU guidelines on the export of military goods: those covering respect for human rights in the country of final destination; the internal situation in that country; the preservation of regional peace; and the risk that the equipment will be diverted or re exported under undesirable conditions.