Policy

Ireland signed and ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was enacted in 1996, with updated legislation passed in 2008.[1] The legislation prohibits investment in the production of anti-personnel mines, as well as assistance with acts prohibited by the treaty.

Ireland regularly attends meetings of the treaty, most recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided statements on cooperation and assistance and universalization. Ireland also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019. Previously, Ireland attended the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Ireland served on the Committee on Article 5 Implementation in 2015.

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

Production, use, transfer, and stockpiling

Ireland has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines.

At the time of entry into force of the treaty, it did not possess a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, other than mines retained for permitted training purposes under Article 3. It has not been revealed when these mines were obtained or whether they were part of a larger stockpile destroyed earlier. Ireland initially retained 129 antipersonnel mines for training purposes; this number was reduced to 55 by the end of 2018.[2] 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…” 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]