Attempts to set up a large-scale arms industry in Ireland foundered as a result of opposition from successive governments in the 1980s and early 1990s.
A number of foreign companies, which approached the government with a view to setting up in Ireland, were rebuffed, despite significant unemployment in Ireland at the time.
Government ministers reasoned that Irish-manufactured arms might threaten Irish neutrality and also bring international oppoprium against the country if they were used by rogue regimes.
In 1980, the minister for foreign affairs Brian Lenihan said he was “extremely dubious” of an offer by the Dutch company Eurometaal NV to set up a shell factory and feared it might bring “very considerable public criticism”, as the shells were destined for countries in the Middle East and South America. In 1982, German firm Thyssen Henschel was refused an opportunity to set up a tank-making factory in Ireland.
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Department of Foreign Affairs secretary general Seán Donlon wrote: “The idea that Ireland should become a significant manufacturer or exporter of arms or armaments has not found favour with successive governments.
“In the absence of specific legislation, these exports would not be subject to control and could presumably be sent to any area of the globe, including areas of tension and countries governed by grossly oppressive regimes.”
A further offer was made in October 1986 by an unnamed company which was seeking to “establish a company in Shannon to repair foreign military and civilian helicopters”.
A Department of Foreign Affairs file shows the helicopters would likely be sent to Greece, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, while the equipment itself would be of “US origin”, a situation the Department said was “undesirable”.
At least three further attempts by firms based in Nato-member nations to set up bases in Ireland to repair equipment ranging from plane engines to helicopters were made between 1986 and the early 1990s, all of which were viewed dimly by officials at the time.