Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the point raised by Senator McFadden, it is a pity the Government has not allowed members of the Defence Forces to join a trade union as this would be a much better way to deal with issues of this nature.

As Senators will be aware, I have raised a number of times the use of Shannon Airport by the United States military as a forward base, with particular reference to the war in Yemen. We know from freedom of information records that have been released that there is a pattern whereby aeroplanes are flying from Shannon Airport to the capital cities of the so-called Saudi coalition, which has brought death and destruction to tens of thousands of people. The Government has made us a part of this by turning a blind eye to what is happening at Shannon Airport. I have asked the Leader to arrange a debate on this issue on numerous occasions. It reminds me a little of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill in that it is apparently coming but a slot for it has not yet been arranged. I would welcome a debate on the US military's use of Shannon Airport.

I raise a specific episode which occurred on Sunday of last week. I regularly attend protests at Shannon Airport and on the day in question I saw a peaceful protester knocked to the ground by gardaí. I then saw gardaí drive up to the protest, inspect the protesters' vehicles, set up a roadblock on the main road out of Shannon Airport and single out the protesters by stopping their vehicles and inspecting their tax and insurance details. They did not stop members of the public. When one of our fellow protesters pulled in to see what the problem was, he was immediately issued with a fine for parking illegally on the motorway. This incident amounted to nothing less than Garda harassment. It was disgraceful and I hope no one in the Government will stand over it. I ask that the Minister for Justice and Equality come to the House to explain the appalling behaviour of gardaí in Shannon Airport.