Ireland to cease investing in Edina’s Alliant Techsystems

Ireland is the latest addition on a growing list of countries that refuse to invest government funds in manufacturers of “cluster munitions” — and Edina’s Alliant Tech Systems (now rebranded as ATK) is among the six targeted companies. On Wednesday, the country’s National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) announced it will withdraw 27 million euros — nearly $43 million — currently invested in American firms Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Alliant Tech Systems and L-3 Communications and the French company Thales.

While Ireland’s investment is merely a drop in the bucket for companies like ATK, which had sales topping $3.5 billion in 2007, it could add up to a sizable chunk when considered along with investments withheld by countries including Norway, Austria and Belgium. Ireland’s decision followed the lead of Norway’s Government Pension Fund, which divested from ATK in 2005.

Last month, 85 nations — the United States notably absent — endorsed a tough draft treaty (pdf) for a global ban on the “use, production, stockpiling, and trade” of cluster munitions. In May, Ireland hosts the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, where final negotiations of the treaty will take place.

Photo: Unexploded bomblet from a cluster munition, via Common Dreams.