Permits issued for arms on aircraft

THOUSANDS of permits have been issued to carry arms on civilian aircraft through Shannon over the past three years.

In the Dáil, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey issued figures that showed 1,495 permits had been issued in 2007, 1,359 in 2008 and 1,276 last year. Most of them were carrying US arms to unspecified destinations, he said.
“The vast majority of requests for these flights are from American civil airlines, chartered by the US military and involve flights to or from the United States. Almost all land at Shannon Airport.
“In general, flight applications of this type identify the airports immediately preceding and following the aircraft’s arrival in Shannon. The final destination of these flights would not necessarily be known by my department. Approximately 90% of the flights carry the personal weapons of the troops on board, safely stowed; a very small number carry ammunition. Approximately 10% of the flights, almost all over-flights, carry other military equipment.”
The minister’s figures showed that 80 applications for permits had been refused over the three years.
In a statement, the Shannonwatch group was critical of the amount of weapons coming through the airport.
“Not only are the weapons being used to cause civilian deaths and suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan; they also present a grave risk to the safety of people working or visiting the airport. Shannon Airport was designed to operate as a civilian airport, not the military air base it has now become.”
The group also criticised the gardaí for not carrying out inspections.
“Despite several requests from Shannonwatch activists to gardaí at Shannon in the past number of years, they repeatedly claim not to know anything about the cargo of US military contracted planes. Nonetheless, they refuse to inspect the contents of these planes. It would appear, therefore, that US military contracted flights go through Shannon without any scrutiny for breaches of safety regulations, or for illegal and indiscriminate weapons such as cluster bombs, white phosphorus and depleted uranium.”
On St Valentine’s Day, Shannonwatch are set to hold a demonstration at the airport. They will display black hearts to signify the death and suffering in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.