Ireland signed and ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Ireland has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was enacted in 1996, with updated legislation passed in 2008. The legislation prohibits investment in the production of anti-personnel mines, as well as assistance with acts prohibited by the treaty. In 2012, Ireland submitted its 14^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

Ireland has no operational stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but initially retained 129 antipersonnel mines for training purposes; this number was reduced to 62 by the end of 2011.[1] At the 2012 intersessional meetings, Ireland affirmed that it has complied with the Cartagena Action Plan by “regularly review[ing] the number of anti-personnel mines retained, to ensure that they constitute the minimum number absolutely necessary…”[2] Ireland stated that since it uses live antipersonnel mines in training, it will become necessary to acquire replacement mines for this purpose in the future.[3] 

Ireland attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2012.

Ireland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

Ireland both signed and ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, and thus was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Ireland’s national implementing legislation for the ban convention is the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008.[1] In April 2009, the Irish Defence Forces issued an instruction to all Irish commanders and staff officers serving overseas laying down “strict parameters for implementation of the Cluster Munitions and Antipersonnel Mines Act, including inter alia directives concerning engagement in military cooperation and operations with states not party to the convention.”[2]

Ireland submitted its annual updated Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report on 30 April 2012, for calendar year 2011.[3]

Ireland was a driving force behind the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and member of the small “Core Group” of nations that took responsibility for steering the process to its successful conclusion. Ireland hosted the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008 and bears a great deal of the responsibility for the successful outcome of the negotiations and the strength of the convention.[4]

Ireland continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2011 and the first half of 2012. Ireland participated in the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, where it was made a co-coordinator on clearance and risk education together with Lao PDR. Ireland made several statements at the meeting, including on stockpile destruction, retention of cluster munitions, clearance, and the architecture of the convention.

At the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, Ireland made several interventions and co-chaired the session on clearance and risk education.

At the Second Meeting of States Parties and intersessional meetings, Ireland said that it continues to take every opportunity to encourage states not party to ratify and/or accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including though multilateral opportunities, military to military contacts, and diplomatic outreach “even where the signals have been disappointing.”[5] Ireland has continued to provide financial support to the CMC, which works to universalize the ban convention.[6]

Interpretive Issues

Ireland has expressed its views on a number of issues important to the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts, the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

With respect to the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations and the provisions of Article 21 of the convention, Ireland said in March 2009 that “any deliberate assistance in the commission of an act prohibited by the Convention in the context of military co-operation with a state not party will be inconsistent with this obligation to make its best efforts to discourage the use of cluster munitions by the latter and that Article 21(3) must be interpreted accordingly.”[7] Ireland’s national legislation includes a section on implementation of Article 21, which the Department of Foreign Affairs has said “is not to enable assistance with prohibited acts…. Rather, this provision is intended to ensure that no person may be prosecuted for an act or omission that might otherwise constitute assistance but is unintended or inadvertent, or has only a remote or indirect relationship to the commission of a prohibited act by a state not party to the Convention.” [8]

In July 2011, Ireland said with respect to the prohibition on the transit of cluster munitions across, and the foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the territory of States Parties to the convention, that it “recognizes that in any case in which these issues might arise it will be necessary to consider to what extent at all, the provisions of Article 21 of the Convention apply,” adding that “inevitably this may be different in each case.”[9]

Ireland has been a strong proponent for the retention of cluster munitions for training and research, despite not retaining any cluster munitions itself. In November 2010, Ireland said that live cluster munitions are necessary for “the development of render safe procedures, training of personnel, and the calibration of detection equipment.”[10] At the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2011, Ireland said that live cluster munitions are necessary under the convention, including for “the calibration and testing of … mechanical clearance technologies and protective equipment for clearance personnel.”[11]

Disinvestment

Ireland’s implementing legislation prohibits investment of public money in cluster munitions production, which made Ireland the second country to prohibit investment in cluster munitions and set a leading example for the implementation of the convention.[12] The law contains a clear and unambiguous prohibition on “direct or indirect” investment in cluster munition producers, including producers of components specifically designed for cluster munitions. It stipulates the responsibilities of the investor, including to exercise “due diligence.”[13] Some NGOs have raised concerns about implementation of the law.[14]

In March 2008, upon a specific request from the Irish government, Ireland’s National Pensions Reserve Fund, responsible for financing Ireland’s national pension requirements, announced the withdrawal of €27 million ($39,760,200) from six international companies linked to the production of cluster munitions.[15] Following the enactment of Ireland’s national legislation on the convention, the National Pension Reserve Fund disinvested from another seven companies and rejected four others from future investments, based on their involvement in the production of cluster munitions or antipersonnel mines.[16]

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Ireland is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and played an active role in CCW efforts to negotiate a protocol on cluster munitions, while expressing its “firm view” that the work on cluster munitions should conclude at the Fourth Review Conference.[17]

At the outset of the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011, Ireland expressed support for the chair’s draft text, but cautioned that a CCW protocol on cluster munitions “must be compatible with and complementary to” the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Ireland said “[W]e continue to have reservations about a number of aspects of the text” and urged “much stronger prohibitions.” It also expressed concern at “the complete exclusion” of some categories of munitions, such as “anti-ship, anti-runway and direct-fire weapons,” and at the inclusion of a lengthy transition period during which prohibited cluster munitions could be used.[18]

During the negotiations, Ireland issued and endorsed several proposals aimed at strengthening provisions of the chair’s draft text. On the final day of the negotiations, Ireland did not however join a group of 50 states that issued a joint statement declaring there was no consensus on the draft protocol and that it was unacceptable from a humanitarian standpoint.[19]

The Review Conference concluded with no agreement on a protocol or proposals to continue negotiations in 2012, thus ending the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Ireland has never used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions.[20]

Retention

According to the transparency reports submitted in 2011 and 2012, Ireland is not retaining any cluster munitions for training.[21]