Tag Archives: Oireachtas Joint Committee

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions will meet on Wednesday  (tomorrow) with senior diplomats to consider a petition calling for an investigation into the US military and CIA use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace. Niall Burgess, secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will address the committee on Ireland’s longstanding policy of military neutrality. Dr Edward Horgan, Margaretta D’Arcy and Dr John Lannon, of the Shannonwatch organisation, addressed the committee on their petition in June, and a delegation from the committee visited Shannon in October to hear a range of perspectives on the issue. Chairman of the committee, Padraig Mac Lochlainn, said, “This petition is a request to the Oireachtas Petitions Committee to examine the legislative and legal international peace and accountability implications that arise from the authorisation by successive Irish governments from 2001 to date, of the use of Shannon airport and Irish airspace for the transit of United States armed …

A delegation from the the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions will travel to Shannon on this Thursday for a series of meetings on the US military use of the airport and Irish airspace. The delegation will meet with representatives from the Shannon Airport Authority, the local gardaí and Shannonwatch. The visit to Shannon follows a petition and presentation to the Committee in June by Dr Edward Horgan, Margaretta D’Arcy and Dr John Lannon of the Shannonwatch organisation. Chairman of the committee, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said the visit to Shannon Airport is a valuable opportunity to follow up on the petition by Shannonwatch earlier this year. “Central to the petition by Shannonwatch is a call for the Government to investigate the use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace for the transit of US armed troops, munitions and other war material, and for the refuelling of CIA-associated aircraft involved in extraordinary rendition,” he said.