Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste. Ten days ago, images of the Vice President of the United States rallying US troops on their way to the Middle East went viral across the Internet because he was doing so in a civilian airport in a supposedly neutral country. These images served as a stark reminder that for over a decade, our civilian Shannon Airport has been used by the US army as a virtual forward base for carrying out military operations and exercises in the Middle East. Could one imagine a more salient image to undermine the neutrality of this State than an image depicting the US Vice President rallying US troops in our civilian airport in Shannon before they are transited off to a war zone in the Middle East to do God knows what? Such images make our neutrality a laughing stock.

Since 2002, over 2.5 million US troops have transited through the civilian airport at Shannon on their way to war zones in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Millions of people have been murdered in those wars. We know that in the first six months of 2017, some 427 permits were approved for military-contracted airplanes to stop off and fly through Irish airspace. We know from these permits that the airplanes in question were on their way to Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Does the Tánaiste believe it is a coincidence that each of those countries is part of the Saudi-led coalition that is waging a savage war against the Yemeni people? Does he know how many people have died in that conflict in the past two years? Between 8,500 and 10,000 people have died in the Yemeni conflict, and at least 5,000 of them were civilians.

Thanks to this country's Government, we are facilitating ongoing death and destruction through a civilian airport. Perhaps the airport in question, Shannon Airport, has become a military airport. We need to call this what it is - the end of any reasonable claim by Ireland that it is a neutral country. I do not know whether the Tánaiste believes in neutrality. Perhaps he would like to tell us. We allow US military aircraft to transit troops and weapons to war zones where they kill people. We are now in the process of committing ourselves to permanent structured co-operation, which would increase our military spending year on year at a time when we are experiencing a housing and homelessness crisis. In effect, we are committing ourselves to a European army that will involve itself in the missions and crimes of NATO.

Does the Tánaiste accept that we - the Irish people - have a right to our civilian airport in Shannon? Does he accept that this right is continuing to be denied to us? It has been laid bare to people since 2003 that a civilian airport is being used as a military forward base. The idea that the US Vice President could address US soldiers on their way to the Middle East in our civilian airport in Shannon reveals the extent to which Irish neutrality has been undermined by successive Irish Governments. The question I originally tabled sought to ascertain how the Tánaiste reconciles these facts with our policy of State neutrality. I see that his colleagues in the Civil Service have translated that question so that it has become a request for a statement on our policy of neutrality. I ask the Tánaiste how he can reconcile the disgraceful scene at Shannon Airport just over a week ago, when the US Vice President told his troops to focus on their mission as they headed off to war from our airport in Shannon, with the policy of neutrality.