Seanad debates
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Air Traffic Control Services
10:30 am
Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Martin Heydon, and I thank him for being here. The first matter is in the name of Senator Clonan who has four minutes.
Tom Clonan (Independent)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the Minister of State for coming in. First of all, I would like to apologise. I came in on the DART this morning and there was a false signal at Bray, so I was delayed as a result. I thank the House for its flexibility.
I ask that the Minister for Transport state how much the Department of Transport has paid the Irish Aviation Authority. These are exempted fees for en route air traffic control services provided to US and foreign military aircraft passing through Irish airspace under the Minister's control.
In Ireland there is always a focus on aircraft on the ground at Shannon Airport and on troops on the ground there. In fact, I am the only Irish journalist ever to have interviewed US troops transiting through Shannon, of which millions of them do en route to the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere.
My focus this morning is on aircraft that are passing through our airspace. These are aircraft that we cannot see. They are up at 37,000 ft. or 39,000 ft. There are literally hundreds of these military aircraft passing through our airspace. Under an international agreement, Eurocontrol, they do not have to pay their air navigation control costs; we pick up that tab.
The last time this question was asked in the early noughties, the Irish taxpayer was paying €10,000 per day towards the air navigation costs of US military aircraft heading towards Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite the fact we are a militarily neutral state, we were making a financial contribution of €10,000 per day for these aircraft up at 37,000 ft. carrying troops, weapons and ammunition.
My reason for asking this question is that there ar 600,000 children in Rafah. At present the United States is supplying the Israelis with heavy ordinance BLU-109, 1,000 kg high-explosive devices. BLU stands for bomb live unit. The United States is also supplying guided bomb units for deployment by aircraft in Rafah, where there are 600,000 children kettled into that place. Their only cover is canvass from tents. They are malnourished and they do not have water or sanitation. The acts are, as I said yesterday, if not genocidal, then femicidal. Some 34 women are killed everyday in Rafah as well as a larger number of children. Three children are being killed every two hours on a daily basis in Rafah.
If I get one piece of high explosives, the size of a cigarette packet, and I detonate it under a car, as happened in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, for example, the vehicle would be unrecognisable after that amount of high explosives. Can you imagine the impact of 1,000 kg of high explosives dropped into a densely populated area? I know about this because I have seen it as a peacekeeper. I have seen the Israelis do it to Lebanese civilians. What you get with high explosives are high heat, shockwaves and the internal organs of children and women being pulped and their bones shattered. They suffer horrific soft-tissue injuries, decapitation, limb separation and the shrapnel effects are equally horrific.Shrapnel effects are equally horrific. We, as a State, have shown great leadership in condemning Israel's disproportionate response in Rafah and Gaza. However, we must not make a financial contribution to the delivery of such weapons that result in the killing of, at this point, 35,000 innocent civilians - some 25,000 of whom have been positively identified, including 8,000 children and infants. I ask the Minister of Transport, Deputy Ryan, to tell us how much we are contributing, and whether we could raise this with our American friends and ask them not to transit through our airspace in this way.
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Clonan for raising this matter. I answer this on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, who is unable to attend the Seanad today. As the Senator stated, the Department of Transport, has long exempted certain classes of airspace uses for the payment of en route air navigation charges. This arrangement derives from the exclusion of state aircraft from the scope of the 1944 Chicago Convention, which established the International Civil Aviation Organisations, ICAO. While the application of the exemption from charges is at the discretion of the state concerned, the policy and general practice at international level is to exempt such flights from charges.
Ireland is a member of Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental organisation comprising 41 European states that provides a key forum for co-operation and collaboration between states at a detailed technical level in the provision of air navigation services. Ireland, as a party to Eurocontrol’s multilateral agreement, exempts certain categories of flights such as those which operate under visual flight rules, flights performed by small aircraft, flights performed for the transport of Heads of State and search and rescue flights from paying en route charges. In the case of other categories of flights, such as military flights, training flights, flights performed to test air navigation equipment, and circular flights that depart and land at the same airport, states have the option to exempt such flights from payment of the en route charge. Ireland, in common with the vast majority of Eurocontrol's 41 member states, subscribes to this practice. All Eurocontrol member states exempt military flights to some degree.
The details of the sums paid by the Department to the AirNav Ireland to cover en route exempted military flights was as follows: €1.1 million in 2019; €820,000 in 2020; €910,000 in 2021; €1.1 million in 2022; €1.07 million 2023.
The mechanics of the exemption of certain classes of aircraft from en route charges involves AirNav Ireland recording where such services were provided to these flights, and then applying to the Department of Transport for reimbursement of the costs incurred. I note the Senator referred to the Irish Aviation Authority in the topic heading. However, responsibility for air navigation service provision has passed to AirNav Ireland from 1 May 2023. Consequently, AirNav Ireland has provided and billed for all air navigation services provided after that date. Previous figures would have applied to the Irish Aviation Authority, which is now the regulatory body, rather than the service provider. The exemption applies to charges for communications and navigation but does not cover terminal charges such as landing fees. Consequently, no reimbursement occurs for landing charges.
In the context of neutrality and the effect of the exemption of military air traffic from en route air navigation service charges, the State’s relations with other nations and military matters are the domain of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defence. However, it should be noted that Ireland’s exemption for military traffic applies to all military aircraft equally. It is done in the interest of maintaining safe transit of military traffic through our airspace. Ireland occupies a pivotal geographical location between North America and continental Europe and Irish-controlled airspace acts as a gateway for aviation between the two continents. The policy is, therefore, not favourable to one state over another. It is based on generally applicable principles applied by Eurocontrol member states.
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. Senator Clonan has one minute to reply.
Tom Clonan (Independent)
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Go raibh maith ag an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for the detail in his response. I appreciate that. While this may be the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs, there is collective responsibility at Cabinet level. What the Department of Transport does cannot be disconnected from our neutral status. I raise this because of what is happening in Rafah. We must use every means at our disposal to prevent and to stop the absolute slaughter of children, men and women that is going to come in the coming weeks, which will bring the world community completely into disrepute.
I appreciate the Minister of State's colleagues, our Taoiseach and Tánaiste, who have been very strong on condemning the disproportionate response. However, we are very sensitive about the deaths of 34 people in Dublin 50 years ago. How would we feel if thousands of kilograms of high explosives - and these are dumb, free-fall weapons, as opposed to guided or precision weapons - were being dropped on Dublin and the air transport costs were being paid for by our European neighbours? I use this as an opportunity to perhaps raise this again with our American colleagues to leverage our good relationship with them to not use our airspace to participate in the genocide that is taking place in Rafah.
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Clonan again for raising this important point. The exemption of certain classes of flights from en route air navigation charges is a long-standing pratice, notwithstanding the specific points the Senator has made, which I will come back to. It is a long-standing practice set down in the Eurocontrol multilateral agreement, of which Ireland is a party. Ireland, in common with other Eurocontrol member states, which includes military flights in the exempt category in the interests of a safe and efficient air navigation system for both civil and military aviation. The exemption applies solely to en route proportion of the flight and not for landing charges. The exemption applies to the category of military flights as a whole. As I said earlier, it does not distinguish between states in terms of military traffic and does not constitute a preference for one nation's military over another. In this sense, it is impartial. It is done in the interest of providing an open and safe service to all air traffic to ensure that the military aircraft is co-ordinated safely alongside civilian traffic, to the benefit of the whole system.
I will bring the Senator's specific point regarding Rafah and the horrendous situation there that has been perpetrated on the people in that space back to the Minister. I take the Senator's point that this needs collectively needs to be looked at by Government.
Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his time. We appreciate him coming to the Seanad.