Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will understand, my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, is engaged in important business elsewhere and is unable to reply in person. For this reason, I will respond on his behalf. As I do not have details of the aircraft to which the Deputy referred, I cannot respond to the specific matters raised by the Deputy. I was asked to respond to a more general issue.

I welcome the opportunity to reaffirm the Government's policy on landings by foreign military aircraft and reiterate its absolute commitment to maintaining our policy of military neutrality. Responsibility for the regulation of foreign aircraft landing in or overflying the State is shared between Departments. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has primary responsibility for the regulation of foreign military aircraft, while the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport leads on regulation of foreign civil aircraft. As the issue for debate is addressed to the former Minister, I will confine my focus to foreign military aircraft landing at Shannon Airport.

Successive Governments have made landing facilities at Shannon Airport available to the United States for many years. The facility to land is also made available to military aircraft from other countries. It is for reasons of geography that the majority of landings are made by US aircraft. Since 2013, permission to land has been granted in respect of requests from more than 20 other countries also. Landings are permitted on condition that the requests satisfy a number of conditions which have been set out in this House. Aircraft must be unarmed, must carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, must not engage in intelligence gathering and the flights must not form part of military exercises or operations. These conditions apply to landings by all foreign military aircraft, including US military aircraft.

On 24 November last, the House had the opportunity to debate the Thirty-Fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Neutrality) Bill 2016. While the Government opposed the Bill, the debate was a valuable opportunity to make perfectly clear that the Government remains absolutely committed to Ireland's long-standing policy of military neutrality. As the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, informed the House during that debate, Ireland's foreign policy statement, The Global Island, clearly indicates that our policy of military neutrality remains a core element of foreign policy. There are no plans to change this long-standing policy.

The Government permits foreign military aircraft to land at Shannon Airport only if they comply with these conditions, which are of the strictest nature and which are imposed precisely because of our military neutrality. When requesting permission for a landing, the United States, like all other states seeking permission to land aircraft here, must indicate in writing that the proposed landing meets the conditions. Bilateral relations with friendly nations, including the US, are founded on trust and information provided by diplomatic missions is accepted in good faith as being accurate. Moreover, in accordance with international practice, foreign military aircraft that are granted permission to land in Ireland are not subject to inspection. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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