Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Wallace for raising this issue. Like my colleagues, I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who had hoped to take this question but unfortunately is still at the Cabinet meeting. Therefore, I will take it on his behalf.

I welcome the opportunity to reaffirm the Government’s policy on landings by foreign military aircraft at Irish airports. 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 Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I will confine my focus to foreign military aircraft landing at Shannon Airport.

Successive Governments have made landing facilities at Shannon available to the US for over 50 years. This practice did not begin in 2003. 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. Permission must be sought in advance for landings by all foreign military aircraft. Foreign military aircraft of any and all states requesting permission to avail of facilities at Shannon or any other Irish airport must adhere to strict conditions. These conditions are applied to ensure compatibility with Ireland’s policy of military neutrality and include stipulations that the aircraft is unarmed, carries no arms, ammunition or explosives; and that it must not engage in intelligence gathering and does not form part of any military operation or exercise.

In considering requests for landings by foreign military aircraft, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s primary focus is on whether the flights in question comply with these conditions. No distinction between states is made when it comes to the application of these criteria.

It has been repeatedly suggested that such normal facilitation is an indication of this Government’s lack of commitment to Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality. I am glad to have a further opportunity to reaffirm that this Government upholds and will continue to uphold that longstanding and publicly cherished policy.

This commitment was detailed in the White Paper on Defence published in August 2015 while the review of foreign policy, The Global Island, published in January 2015 similarly reaffirmed that Ireland’s policy of military neutrality remains a core element of Irish foreign policy.

The practical implementation of the conditions for granting permission for landings by foreign military aircraft is guided by and reflects Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality to which, as I have already outlined, the Government is fully committed.

I would like to reiterate that the facility granted to the US, as to other countries, to land at Shannon airport is both transparent and open. The strict conditions that apply to such landings are a matter of public record having been set out on many occasions in the House. This policy of military neutrality, together with our own international activism on issues such as disarmament, international crisis management and peace keeping, has helped us to speak with a distinctive and independent voice on many of the key challenges facing the world regarding the maintenance of international peace and security. Furthermore, Ireland fully recognises the links between security and development and that the widest possible range of tools and instruments including security, development co-operation and humanitarian are required to respond to conflict and crisis. Indeed, Ireland is the eighth largest donor to the UN central emergency response fund, an important humanitarian financing mechanism for underfunded and rapid onset emergencies. It contributed €22 million to the fund last year and a further €10 million has been pledged for 2018, of which €8 million has already been distributed in Iraq, a country which has suffered significantly at the hands of Daesh. The appalling atrocities that this terrorist organisation has inflicted on Iraqi citizens is one of the reasons why since 2012 we have provided just over €10.6 million in humanitarian assistance. We have consistently called for inclusive democratic solutions. We have emphasised that the security efforts must be complimented by the implementation of the programme for national reconciliation that was set out by Prime Minister Abadi in late 2014.

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