Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

There was quite a bizarre story a couple of weeks ago which illustrated a very important point about the position of Ireland in the world and the role it plays in terms of supporting and facilitating US imperialism. It was the story about the massive US air force jet landing at Baldonnel. I and many others asked a whole bunch of questions about it and what emerged was that the pilot had landed there because he wanted to go and see the Cliffs of Moher, and he had gone down low, had been facilitated by air traffic controllers, had taken a picture and so on. It highlighted the fact of relatively significant numbers of US military planes stopping in Ireland. As I asked and did not get a clear answer, I will have to presume this plane was not inspected for weapons. Perhaps the Taoiseach can provide information if, in fact, it was inspected. We also do not know, or the question was not answered, whether this plane was involved in recent military actions or military exercises, or what it was en routeto do. It highlights the point of Ireland being used as a war port by the US military en routeto the Middle East. Clearly, all uses of Shannon Airport, Baldonnel and anywhere else by the US military should be ended.

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