Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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67. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 562 of 9 July 2013 and 164 of 16 July 2013, the number of notifications given to his Department when military or State aircraft applied for authorisation traffic rights when carrying Heads of State or Heads of Government from other nations in the past five years; the number that have been approved and rejected; if he will outline in tabular form the nations involved and the date of each landing here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36991/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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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. My Department's records indicate that permission was granted for the landing of 51 foreign government/ military aircraft carrying Heads of State or Heads of Government from other nations. Permission was granted in all cases, subject to the normal conditions that apply to landings at Irish airports by foreign military aircraft: namely that the aircraft are unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and do not engage in intelligence gathering and that the flights in question do not form any part of military exercises or operations. In the vast majority of cases, military aircraft used the landing facilities at Dublin Airport for the transport of dignitaries or other persons participating in high-level meetings in Ireland, however, in some cases landings may include stopovers for re-fuelling, for example.