Amnesty International has called on the Government to finalise proposed arms export control legislation that it has promised to introduce.
The human rights group, which wants tighter controls over arms exports and arms brokering from Ireland, said that in 2005 the Department of Trade Enterprise and Employment issued licences for military products worth €400 million and issued licences for "dual-use" components worth €4 billion in the same year.
Dual-use products can be used for both military and civilian purposes.
According to figures obtained by Amnesty from the Department of Trade, in February 2005 an export licence - ML5a - was granted for the export of "weapons sights, bombing computers, gun laying equipment and weapon control systems to Turkey.
The same licence was granted for the same exports to Saudi Arabia the following March.
Amnesty is concerned that military exports from Ireland are going to countries "with a track record of human rights abuses".
The Department of Trade confirmed that tighter controls were needed over military and dual-use exports and it hoped the new legislation would be published by the Autumn.
The Department said Ireland was unable to enact European legislation on arms brokering because of a 1983 Irish Act.
Arms brokering controls will be brought in under the new legislation.
Amesty campaign and communications manager, Jim Loughran, said: "We are not saying that we should not export military equipment. Amnesty accepts the rights of countries to defend themselves, but tighter controls are needed. The bulk of weapons that end up in terrorism or crime started out as legitimate sales and got diverted along the way".