Ireland

Ireland has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2014. Ireland supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

During the March 2026 session of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems (GGE on LAWS), Ireland stated ‘After a decade of discussions, we finally managed to narrow in on some common understandings on key concepts, and we’re making clear progress towards delivering concrete results. And it’s important that we do so given the rapid technological developments taking place outside these walls. This real progress is thanks to the rolling text and the manner you have guided our work. In general, we want to reiterate our support for this rolling text as a whole, which is well structured, coherent, and succinct, and provides a sufficient basis for future negotiations, as was declared in a joint statement and working paper supported by 42 High Contracting Parties last year. We also want to take the opportunity to recall the purpose of the CCW and of our work in this GGE, which is not to repeat previous GGE report language or merely restate existing IHL rules, but to clarify how they apply in the context of LAWS and to strengthen to articulating specific measures in order to ensure compliance and accountability under IHL.’ ^[1]Statement by Ireland, CCW GGE on LAWS, 2 March 2026, … Continue reading

In December 2025, Ireland co-sponsored and voted in favour of UN General Assembly Resolution 80/57 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Mindful of the challenges and concerns autonomous weapons systems raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives, Resolution 80/57 stresses the urgent need for the CCW to address the challenges and concerns posed by autonomous weapons systems, and calls upon the High Contracting Parties of the CCW to “work towards completing the set of elements for an instrument being developed within the mandate of the Group of Governmental Experts, with a view to future negotiation.”

At the CCW GGE on LAWS in September 2025, Ireland joined a group of 42 states delivering a joint statement calling for the group to begin negotiations of an instrument on the basis of its ‘rolling text,’ and stating that they were ready to do this.

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Ireland co-sponsored and voted in favour of Draft Resolution L.77 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Draft Resolution L.77 raises concerns about the ‘negative consequences and impact of autonomous weapon systems on global security and regional and international stability’ and stresses ‘the importance of the role of humans in the use of force to ensure responsibility and accountability and for States to comply with international law.’ It also notes ‘the repeated calls by the Secretary-General to urgently conclude negotiations of a legally binding instrument with prohibitions and regulations for autonomous weapons systems, in line with a two-tier approach.’ The Resolution will convene open informal consultations in 2025 over two days in New York, ‘to consider the report of the Secretary-General in full complementarity with and in a manner that supports the fulfilment of the mandate of the Group of Governmental Experts in order to further the international community’s understanding of the issues involved by discussing the full range of views received, including proposals and relevant aspects raised in the report that may thus far not have been discussed in detail in the Group of Governmental Experts.’

Speaking at the UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Ireland reiterated the urgency of establishing legally binding rules on autonomous weapon systems.^[2]Statement by Ireland, 79th UNGA First Committee, 24 October 2024

In its 2024 submission to the UN Secretary-General per UNGA resolution 78/241, Ireland states that it ‘joins calls for multilateral rules, and guidelines on AWS – and supports a legally binding solution;’ ‘underlines the urgency of addressing this issue;’ and ‘underscores the legal, ethical and bias risks associated with the development and use of AWS, and calls for any future framework to take these into account’.^[3]Submission of Ireland for the report of the Secretary-General on lethal autonomous weapons systems res. 78/241, … Continue reading

In 2024, Ireland endorsed the Chair’s Summary of the 2024 Vienna conference ‘Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation’ . The Chair’s Summary affirms the ‘strong commitment’ of the endorsing states to ‘work with urgency and with all interested stakeholders for an international legal instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems.’

In December 2023, Ireland voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 78/241 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Resolution 78/241 stressed the ‘urgent need for the international community to address the challenges and concerns raised by autonomous weapons systems’, and mandated the UN Secretary-General to prepare a report, reflecting the views of member and observer states on autonomous weapons systems and ways to address the related challenges and concerns they raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives and on the role of humans in the use of force.

At the 78th UN General Assembly First Committee in 2023, Ireland co-sponsored resolution L.56 on autonomous weapons systems, and voted in favour of the resolution along with 163 other states. Resolution L.56 stressed the ‘urgent need for the international community to address the challenges and concerns raised by autonomous weapons systems’, and mandated the UN Secretary-General to prepare a report, reflecting the views of member and observer states on autonomous weapons systems and ways to address the related challenges and concerns they raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives and on the role of humans in the use of force.

At the 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, Ireland stated that ‘It is clear that certain systems require regulation with clear rules and others should be prohibited. Also, given the centrality of IHL, we should be able to collectively acknowledge that autonomous weapons systems that cannot be used in accordance with IHL must not be developed, deployed or used. Ceding human control, agency or responsibility to algorithms should not be acceptable. Humans should retain control of the use of force and that there is clear accountability and responsibility.’^[4]Statement by Ireland, CCW GGE on LAWS, 15 May … Continue reading

At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting, Ireland warned that ‘failure to make progress’ on the issue of autonomous weapons at the CCW GGE on LAWS ‘cannot continue indefinitely.'^[5]Statement by Ireland, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 10 October 2022, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1q/k1qpl23hqa; please note that this link leads to the full recording & transcript … Continue reading Ireland has stated that ‘the application of and compliance with IHL requires context-specific, value-based judgment by human beings, and that this requirement cannot be substituted by autonomous machines or systems’,^[6]Statement by Ireland, CCW GGE on LAWS, 03 August 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-03-08-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full recording & transcript of … Continue reading and has said that without human control over autonomous weapons systems, their ‘development, deployment and use would undermine international humanitarian law, international human rights law and ethical standards’.^[7]Statement by Ireland, CCW GGE on LAWS, 24 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-24-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full recording & transcript … Continue reading