The Government’s Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026 proposes to amend the Science and Technology Act 1987 to remove controls and oversight on arms industries in Ireland.
The Government’s legislation would remove Section 8, subsection 5 of the Science and Technology Act 1987. Section 8, subsection 5 states that State agencies ‘shall not engage in or promote any activity of a primarily military relevance without the prior approval of the Government.’
This Government amendment to its own legislation was introduced after completion of Pre-Legislative Scrutiny by the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.
People Before Profit were the first to submit amendments and to call for a vote on the Bill at committee stage to try and stop what the Government is planning.
Amendments submitted by Richard Boyd Barrett to the Government’s Bill would mean that existing legislation preventing state agency engagement of any activity of a military relevance is retained, and that the IDA may not:
make loans to, invest monies in and sell, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of land at its disposal to, a relevant company which engages in or promotes any activity of military relevance.
Deputy Boyd Barrett’s amendments will be debated and voted on at Report Stage in the Dáil this afternoon.
Boyd Barrett TD said:
“The Government’s Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026 includes alarming proposals to reduce oversight and controls on the arms industry in the State.
“A Bill that is supposedly about supporting enterprise and industry is being used to sneak in something that should be a concern to everyone. The Government added a provision to its own legislation, after the completion of Pre Legislative Scrutiny, to remove the requirement for state agencies to have government approval to engage in or promote any activity of a primarily military relevance.
“The Government’s legislative sleight of hand could also facilitate state-funded contributions to Israel’s genocide and war crimes. It is deeply disturbing that this comes after we learned of the export of tens of millions worth of dual-use technologies from Ireland to Israel’s military, in the mist of Israel's genocide in Gaza.
“The Irish Government wants to reduce the obligation on State agencies which might be engaged with companies in the production of that kind of technology from having to seek Government authorisation. This is truly alarming and my deep concerns are exacerbated by the fact that this was not in the original draft scheme of the Bill.
“This demonstrates once again why the Government cannot be trusted with Irish neutrality, cannot be trusted not to engage in war profiteering, and cannot be trusted not to be complicit with genocidal crimes being committed by the likes of the Israeli state.
“My amendments to the Government’s Bill seek to prevent the removal of the existing legislation preventing state agency engagement of any activity of a military relevance without the prior approval of the Government, and to ensure that the IDA cannot assist companies engaged in or promoting activities of military relevance.
“I will be calling votes on my amendments this afternoon to prevent the Government from its alarming and underhand attempt to enable the arms industry.”