THE government has missed its third self-imposed deadline for releasing information on Irish-based companies supplying parts for international arms companies.

The Control of Exports Act 2008, which came into effect in May of the same year, was supposed to ensure the delivery of an annual report on Irish exports, specifically in relation to the defence industry.

"There is simply no way to know where weapons designed or manufactured by Irish companies are going," said Amnesty International Ireland's executive director Colm O'Gorman.

In the past, a number of companies here have been revealed, including a Meath- based firm which supplies armoured vehicles to Iraq and a Cork company whose products were used in Apache gunships.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment told Amnesty that the information would be released on three separate occasions from last summer to the end of last month. It has yet to deliver.

In a statement to the Sunday Tribune, the department said it was aware the report remains overdue but that it is being treated as a priority.

Amnesty claims that in 2006 export licenses for military-use goods amounted to €35m and for dual-use goods – those with both a military and civilian use – to €2.4bn.

But it said: "Ireland's current export control system is inadequate. The Department of Foreign Affairs [has] stated that Irish airports should not be used by aircraft transporting weapons to Israel.

"Yet Irish-made components could have simultaneously been making their way into Apache helicopters destined for Israel because of loopholes in Ireland's export control system."

Campaigners insist the state has a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that weapons and components manufactured here are not being used by human rights abusers in other countries.

While avoiding yet another precise date for its presentation before the Oireachtas, the Department of Enterprise has sent assurances that the report is now in its final stages and will be released "shortly".

It has also confirmed its intention to expand the annual report into 2009 due to its delay and the level of interest in its content.