Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is obvious that the most significant threat to security at Shannon is the role of the US military. I do not know if the Minister read the article in The Guardian last week which revealed that the US Government sent 100 Hellfire missiles to Iraq over the past number of weeks. We do not know whether those weapons were transported through Shannon but a number of US Air Force aircraft refuelled at Shannon and were present there over the past period. It is appalling that the Minister has confirmed that none of these aircraft was searched by the Defence Forces or the Garda, yet Irish taxpayers' money was expended on having the Defence Forces there. The Minister might like to comment on the fact that a couple of days before Margaretta D'Arcy went onto the runway at Shannon last year there had been a US military aircraft on the runway which had a 30-mm modified Mk 44 cannon located on the front of the fuselage in front of its wings. These aircraft carry depleted uranium. It is highly probable that the aircraft contained the ammunition to go with that. This is an erosion of our neutrality. Why have no searches been conducted?

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