Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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95. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has been in contact with the new US Administration under President Joe Biden in relation to the continued use of Shannon Airport for the facilitation of carriage of ammunition (details supplied). [33684/21]

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Has the Minister been in contact with the new US Administration under President Joe Biden with regard to the continued use of Shannon Airport for the facilitation of the carriage of ammunition? I believe that in 2020, arms were transferred through the airport on 285 occasions. Is this set to continue?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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If the Deputy allows me to give the regulations around this, then I will answer the direct question. The Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order 1973 prohibits the carriage of munitions of war through Irish airspace or through Irish airports on civilian aircraft unless an exemption has been granted by the Minister for Transport. Statistics on such exemptions are published on the Department of Transport’s website. The process in place around the granting of such permission by the Minister for Transport is robust and includes seeking the advice of my Department on any implications for Ireland's policy of military neutrality. Permissions are only granted where no such concerns arise. With regard to foreign military aircraft, permission must be sought from me in advance for landings. Such flights are routinely required to meet strict conditions to ensure compatibility with Ireland’s policy of military neutrality: that the aircraft is unarmed, carries no arms, ammunition or explosives, must not engage in intelligence gathering and does not form part of any military operation or exercise.

The Deputy refers to more than 220 occasions in 2020 when arms were transferred through the airport. That is not quite the case. These exemptions are sometimes for a personal protection detail where light arms are carried on the person. For example, we met the Secretary of State Blinken a number of weeks ago and he came through Shannon Airport. Jake Sullivan came through Shannon Airport also when we met him. They would have had security around them, including bodyguards that were armed. In order for that to happen they need to get an exemption for each member of their security personnel who carries a pistol on his or her person. That is the exemption space we are talking about. Those exemptions are not about carrying large volumes of munitions or arms through Shannon Airport. The exemptions refer to light arms on the person, whether that is security personnel or whoever. This is just to put it into context. I checked this with our team before answering this question because I want to be accurate. When exemptions are applied for, the only exemptions that are granted are, effectively, for light arms that are carried on a person. This is obviously not the same as carrying large arms and munitions into a war setting. That is not what is being facilitated.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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"Munitions of war" is a fancy term thought up by civil servants. It is, basically, another term for military weapons or munitions. Why is neutral Ireland facilitating weapons of war going through Shannon Airport from the United States of America? The Minister has just clarified that the exemptions must go through the Minister for Transport, if they go through. Nearly 300 such missions were facilitated by Shannon Airport in 2020. The Minister has said it was light arms. How many are being facilitated in 2021? Must the Minister for Transport personally sign off on each facilitation of arms, or is it the civil servants? Who is it? I believe there is a huge amount of weapons going through Shannon Airport.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important that we deal with facts here rather than what people believe. In order for a civilian aircraft that is carrying US military personnel to travel through Shannon Airport, if any of them are carrying arms on their person there needs to be an exemption for that. There is no exemption to carry large munitions or arms for military operations or war. There is not. The only exemptions here are for light arms that are carried on a person. If a senior US official comes through Shannon Airport on a military aircraft, he or she will have a personal security detail. There will be other cases where light arms are justified and carried, but this is different from using Shannon Airport as a stopover to carry munitions or arms to a theatre of war. That does not happen. I want to reassure people that this does not happen. It is certainly the information on the brief I have anyway. This is about light arms that are on a person where there is a justifiable reason for it. It is no more and no less than that. They are the exemptions that are considered by the Minister for Transport, in consultation with my Department. Those exemptions are given when appropriate.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Flights with military personnel on board would also have their own military weapons on board, so a full flight of military personnel involves a large volume of military weapons coming through an airport. Has there been any recent review of any possible international threat to Shannon Airport by those who may be enemies of the United States of America? We currently have Defence Forces troops in the Sahel region of Africa where there is a serious ongoing conflict. Will the Minister offer sincere guarantees on the safety of these personnel? Why exactly are they there? Do our troops need to be there if there is a greater danger to their safety than in more proven peacekeeping missions?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has asked two very different questions. I have answered the first question: there are no large-scale stocks of weapons travelling through Shannon Airport. There are not. The US sometimes uses Shannon Airport for refuelling to bring personnel from one part of the world to another, and not with their weapons. When the US seeks exemptions, we are talking about light weapons that are for personal security reasons and so on, and not about soldiers with their weaponry heading for parts of the Middle East or wherever. That is not how it is.

On the mission in Mali, peacekeeping is dangerous. As Minister for Defence, of course it is my job to ensure that we look after the safety of our own personnel and our peacekeepers, that they are trained and equipped, and that they are not put into a theatre of conflict where the risk profile has not been fully examined first. Mali is a dangerous part of the world. It is a very complex country and we are there to try to help to bring stability to the Sahel region and to Mali in particular. We are involved in two missions there: a UN mission and an EU mission. The EU mission is a training mission where our Defence Forces personnel are training Malian troops to protect themselves and their people. Our UN mission has an Army Ranger Wing element because it is a complex mission. I understand that they are doing an excellent job and are managing the risk appropriately.