Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I have detailed a list of US military aircraft which landed at or overflew Shannon Airport between 4 June and 12 June. This list is by no means complete and only contains details of those aircraft that the Shannonwatch organisation has been able to monitor. The number of US military planes listed as overflying is likely to be only a small fraction of the total and only includes overflying close to the airport. The unusual number of midair refuelling aircraft landing and taking off from the airport during this period as well as overflying Irish airspace are of particular importance.

Two of these planes, KC10 refuelling tankers Nos. 85-0027 and 84-0192, made multiple departures from and landings at Shannon sometimes on the same days, indicating they were likely being used to refuel other US military aircraft in midair, either in Irish-controlled airspace or over the NATO exercise area in Europe. Was the Minister aware that these planes were in Irish airspace? What were they doing there? It seems that they were involved in NATO's Anaconda military exercise, the largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The period during which these military aircraft landed and refuelled coincides with the preparations for the NATO Anaconda military exercise in Poland conducted between 7 June and 17 June. It is likely that most of them are associated with that exercise. If this is the case, it is not only a clear breach of Irish neutrality but this is also in clear breach of assurances given to the Government by the US Government that all US military aircraft using Shannon Airport and Irish airspace are not on military operations or military exercises. Not only do these military planes breach our neutrality, they are a potential hazard to our environment and citizens.

A report inThe New York Times on 20 June focused on former US soldiers who are now suffering from cancer after being used to clean up radioactive contaminated materials following two separate accidents involving US B-52 bombers carrying nuclear bombs, one in Spain and the other in Greenland. Of course, we are told that the US military planes landing at Shannon and overflying Irish airspace never carry nuclear weapons, never even carry weapons or munitions of any sort and are not on military operations or military exercises. However, we have no way of knowing what aircraft 50,000 ft. above Ireland are carrying, and no way of knowing what the US military aircraft landing at Shannon are carrying because no one searches them, except Deputies Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, who were arrested trying to search some of these warplanes. The Minister does not want to search them. The Government has repeatedly refused to conduct searches of these military planes, despite an assurance in the previous programme for Government, arguing that trust of and diplomatic assurances by the US government are good enough. However, this good faith is not good enough for myself, my party and for others.

In 2004, Deputy Clare Daly in 2004 said, "They [the Government] are purposely turning a blind eye. They don't want to search [the planes] because they know what they will find and then the game will be up."In addition, the European Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, recently accused the Government of turning a blind eye to the use of Shannon Airport by the US for rendition purposes. She also raised the question as to whether Ireland has compromised on justice in order to maintain good relations with Washington. Why does the Minister not search these planes? Is it because he is afraid of what will be found? According to expert security analyst, Dr. Tom Clonan, Shannon is a virtual forward air base for the US military, and, in February 2015, he told a court that "if Shannon was being used by any other group to cause the type of damage that the 2.25 million US troops that have passed through Shannon have caused, then the US would rightly identify it as a target".Dr. Clonan went to say that "By allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a US military base, we are contributing to war and human rights abuse".

When one considers that estimates by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN, and theLancet medical journal suggest that up to 1 million children have died as a direct and indirect result of the US-led wars in the Middle East since 1991 - the first Gulf War and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria - we should be thoroughly ashamed of any involvement we have in facilitating such attacks. Sinn Féin brought a Bill before the Dáil last year, which called for a referendum to enshrine Irish neutrality in the constitution. The Minister rejected it and current policies on Shannon Airport make a joke of his Department's official policy of neutrality and of our international reputation. Ireland’s neutrality has been significantly diluted by successive Governments. When will he accept this reality and give Irish citizens the power to ensure the State's neutrality in our constitution? I am afraid to say that we are not neutral. Instead, we are facilitating US military activity in wars that have cost millions of lives.