Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I find it baffling that the Minister cannot tell me why he has allowed this to happen. He is saying that it is the Department of Transport. Surely this is a foreign affairs issue, and surely he should be taking responsibility for it. It has been raised in this Chamber many times. It was bad enough that we have stood by and allowed munitions of war to pass through Irish airspace en route to Israel without permission, a crime the Government has failed to prosecute a single company for. It was bad enough that we have continued to allow the US military to use our airports despite all the harm it has done and continues to do globally in the execution of US foreign policy. What is worse is that we are now allowing the US military and the US Department of War, newly named, to use Shannon Airport en route to Israel. I am not just asking when enough is enough. Why has the Government taken this complicity a step further? Why has the Government decided to do so now?

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