Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of US military personnel passing through Shannon Airport for each month of 2004 to date. [23485/04]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Civilian air carriers carrying weapons or munitions wishing to land or over-fly Irish airspace are obliged to seek exemption from the provisions of sections 6 and 7 of the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order 1973. This order applies only to the carriage of munitions of war, weapons and dangerous goods and not to military personnel. There is no limitation on the carriage of military troops on civilian aircraft if they are unaccompanied by weapons or munitions, as is sometimes the case. Therefore, my Department does not collate information with regard to the number of military troops on board civilian aircraft.

On the basis of information collected by Aer Rianta, the numbers of troops travelling on civilian aircraft are as follows:

Statistics for September were not available when this reply was prepared.