Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I tabled the question in response to a reply received by Shannonwatch in February when it lodged a freedom of information request for correspondence and records relating to a sample of 12 US military contracted flights which landed in Shannon Airport or flew through Irish airspace in October 2016. These were classified as civilian rather than military flights, even though they had military call signs and were operated by airlines that have indefinite delivery or indefinite quantity contracts to provide these services to the US military. In its response, the Department stated it had no records or information in respect of flights by Sun Country Airlines, UPS Airlines and National Air Cargo. The problem is that all of the Sun Country Airlines flights listed in the freedom of information request were en routeto the NATO airbase on the Turkish border with Syria, which is the primary location used by the US military for airstrikes against Syria and Iraq. It is beyond belief that these aircraft would travel through Irish airspace and would not be involved in military activity. The answer provided to Shannonwatch indicated that either the United States did not provide the Department with information on the flights or the Department did not provide information on them to Shannonwatch because the record shows that exemptions were not sought for many of them.

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