Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

Like the Taoiseach, I believe Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Given that is the case, what are we doing allowing uninspected flights involving private jets linked to military contractors and carrying dual-use goods to transit through Shannon Airport en route to Israel? These flights are not covert. The are documented and trackable. The Taoiseach might be aware that under EU customs law, Ireland is obliged to carry out risk-based inspections. This includes flights using known arms routes. Right now, Ireland is clearly not complying.

The moral failure speaks for itself, but we are potentially in breach of EU VAT enforcement rules, which raises serious questions. Today, my colleague Senator Patricia Stephenson and I have written to OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud body, and to the Attorney General to seek legal clarity on the Government's position for non-inspection of these flights. If the Taoiseach does not have an answer today, he might commit to providing a written response to me on this matter to explain what steps, if any, the Government is taking to ensure that Ireland is meeting all its legal obligations when it comes to the inspections of aeroplanes.

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