Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, sends his apologies as he cannot be here today. On 6 July this year, when the Senator raised the issue of the US military aircraft landing at Shannon Airport, the Minister informed this House that the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952 gives the Minister for Foreign Affairs primary responsibility for the regulation of activity by foreign military aircraft in Ireland. Permission must be sought in advance for landings by all foreign military aircraft, including those from the US. If granted, permission is subject to strict conditions. Aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and must not engage in intelligence gathering. Furthermore, the flights in question must not form part of military exercises or operations.The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is satisfied that the US is aware of the need to comply with the strict conditions which attach to permission for military aircraft to land at Irish airports.

In July, when Senator Gavan raised the issue of US military aircraft landings at Shannon, he speculated that they were involved in supporting NATO military exercises in the Baltic. The US has confirmed this was not the case and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, informed the Dáil accordingly. On this occasion, Senator Gavan is suggesting that US military aircraft that landed at Shannon were transporting munitions to Saudi Arabia and that they were involved in mid-air refuelling of Saudi Arabian aircraft. I can inform the Senator that so far in 2016, six US military aircraft have sought permission to land in Shannon with Saudi Arabia as either their origin or destination. In each case, the request stated that the aircraft was unarmed and that it did not carry arms, ammunition or explosives. None of those six aircraft was capable of delivering mid-air refuelling. In each case, the purpose of the stop in Shannon was refuelling and the transport of VIP passengers.

I am grateful to the Senator for providing me with an opportunity to also outline the Government’s response to the ongoing conflict in Yemen and our continuing work in the area of arms control. Last Sunday, during his visit to Saudi Arabia, the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, raised the situation in Yemen, including Ireland's concern at the civilian casualties, with the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Ireland has also been active in raising this matter in international fora, including at the United Nations General Assembly where in our statement at the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security we highlighted our grave concerns with regard to indiscriminate explosive weapons use in current conflicts, with particular reference to the use of cluster munitions use in Yemen.

The current situation in Yemen is extremely worrying. The Government urges all parties to the conflict to respect international law and to return to the political negotiating table. The only solution to this conflict, and as such the only way to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people, is through political means. The longer the fighting continues, the worse the impact on the Yemeni people. Air strikes on civilian targets have been a worrying feature of this conflict. I was particularly concerned to hear of the recent attack on the funeral in Sana’a. Such attacks are unacceptable and I welcome reports that there will be an investigation into this attack.

For many decades, Ireland has been a leading voice for disarmament, non-proliferation, arms control and respect for international humanitarian law. The agreement of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008 led to the creation of a new regime outlawing these weapons. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade remains active in its efforts to get all states which have not yet joined the convention to do so, including the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 2013, the international community agreed the arms trade treaty which prohibits the exportation of arms to countries if the exporting country knows that those weapons will be used in acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions or other war crimes. Ireland was among the first states to sign and ratify that treaty and remains active in efforts to ensure universal adherence to the norms that it creates.

At the UN General Assembly’s Committee on Disarmament and International Security, which took place in New York last month, Ireland highlighted the urgency of exploring how to raise consciousness and strengthen the application of international humanitarian law in relation to preventing civilian harm from the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.

I hope this reply clarifies the matter for the Senator.