Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide official figures for the number of foreign military personnel that passed through Shannon to date in 2013; and the nationality of these military personnel. [43469/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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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. My Department’s records of overflight and landing requests for foreign military aircraft indicate that permission was sought for 366 military aircraft to land in Shannon Airport in the period to 30 September 2013. The table below provides details of the countries involved and the number of times permission was sought to land in Shannon Airport. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not keep a record of the number of personnel on board foreign military aircraft landing in Shannon Airport. I am advised that, in most cases, the persons on board these aircraft consist of the crew and, depending on the nature of the flight, a limited number of military personnel. While my Department has primary responsibility under Irish legislation for foreign military aircraft seeking to overfly or land in Ireland, the vast majority of the foreign military personnel transiting Shannon Airport travel on commercial flights. The regulation of civil aviation is primarily a matter for my colleague the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. I understand that approximately 45,000 US military personnel passed through Shannon Airport in the period from 1 January to 30 September 2013.