608 military flights last year

SPEAKING in the Dáil last week, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore, said there were 608 military landings in Shannon last year.

These figures do not include the Omni flights that carry troops, as these are classified as civilian flights.
Figures he provided showed the vast majority of the military aircraft at Shannon, 548, were from the US. Of the rest, 18 were from Italy and 10 from Canada.

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe asked the minister for the total number of military aircraft that landed at Shannon last year, the countries to which they belonged, the reason for their use of Shannon and the average duration of their stays.

Responding, the minister said, “The Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) order 1952 gives the Minister for Foreign Affairs primary responsibility for the regulation of activity by foreign military aircraft in Ireland. In 2012, my department granted permission for the landing of 608 foreign military aircraft at Shannon Airport.

Permission was granted in all cases, subject to the normal conditions that apply to landings at Irish airports by foreign military aircraft. Namely, that the aircraft are unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, do not engage in intelligence gathering and that the flights in question do not form any part of military exercises or operations.”

He said most, but not all, of the planes landed in Shannon to refuel. “In the vast majority of cases, military aircraft used the landing facilities at Shannon Airport for the purposes of refuelling and to allow for crew and passenger rest. In a small number of cases, aircraft landed in Shannon Airport to allow for the transport of dignitaries or other persons participating in visits to Ireland, as a result of medical emergencies on board, for flight crew training and for aircraft maintenance purposes. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not keep a record of the length of time involved on each occasion when a military aircraft lands at Shannon Airport.

In a follow-up question, Deputy Crowe asked the Tánaiste to confirm that none of the flights were carrying arms. Responding, he said he had no evidence that any of them carried weapons. “Permission for foreign military aircraft to land at Irish airports is subject to assurances that the conditions mentioned by the deputy, namely that the aircraft are unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, do not engage in intelligence gathering and that the flights in question do not form any part of military exercises or operations, are fully met. I have no evidence to suggest that these conditions were not met in relation to any of the 608 military aircraft which landed in Shannon Airport in 2012.”

Gerry Condon of the US organisation Veterans for Peace, was sceptical of Mr Gilmore’s claim that arms hadn’t been carried. “If these US Military planes were not on military missions, then why did 548 of them need to land at Shannon Airport last year? Do the US and Irish governments take us all for fools?”

Peace group Shannonwatch compared it to a statement made by Brian Cowen when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs. “In November 2002, Mr Cowen also stated that permission for US military landings and over-flights was granted on the basis that the aircraft were unarmed, did not carry arms ammunition or explosives and did not form part of a military exercise or operation. However, it was public knowledge that the US troops using Shannon were taking part in a military build-up in preparation for war against Iraq and this was quite clearly ‘part of a military exercise or operation’. “Furthermore, after employees at the airport had seen US troops with guns, Minister Cowen was forced to admit publicly that they were in fact carrying their personal weapons.”