Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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866. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of mid-air refuellers of the United States of America which passed through Shannon Airport in 2014 and in 2015 to date; the direction that they were going; their destination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37207/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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882. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 317 and 318 of 22 October 2015, his views that he did not provide the information requested regarding the numbers of refuellers granted permission from the US en route to Saudi Arabia and with regard to the reply that he provided, the reason for each of the 46 refuelling aircraft landing and if they were filling up with fuel that was likely to be used for refuelling other aircraft. [37936/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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884. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of military refuelling aircraft belonging to the US that were given permission to overfly Irish airspace in 2015 to date. [38040/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 866, 882 and 884 together.

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.

Arrangements under which permission is granted for military aircraft, including US aircraft, to land at Irish airports are governed by strict conditions. These include stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and must not engage in intelligence gathering, and that the flights in question must not form any part of military exercises or operations.

As indicated in my reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 317 and 318, permission subject to these conditions had been granted between 1 January 2015 and 20 October 2015 in respect of landings by 46 aircraft that can operate as refuelling aircraft. None of these had Saudi Arabia as the next destination. Two further such requests have since been approved. Again, neither of these requests listed Saudi Arabia as the next destination.

The majority of the 48 landings were for the purposes of crew rest or refuelling the aircraft.

In 2014, 104 requests for landings at Shannon Airport by aircraft that can operate as refuelling aircraft were approved.

The countries of destination for the landings approved in 2014 and 2015 were as follows: Canada, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UAE, UK and USA.

From 1 January to 29 October 2015, there were 92 overflights by US military aircraft that can operate as refuelling aircraft.