Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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116. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of requests that have been made to his Department by the military of the United States of America for landing permits at Shannon Airport, or overflights, under the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952 since March 2015; the number of such permissions that have been granted by his Department in that period; the assurance he will provide that none of these planes were en-route to participate in, or contribute to, the Saudi led and United States of America-backed bombing campaign in Yemen; the measures his Department has taken to ensure that these particular planes are unarmed, carrying no arms, ammunition or explosives, do not engage in intelligence gathering, and do not take part in any military exercises or operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37694/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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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.

Arrangements under which permission is granted for foreign military 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. My Department is satisfied that the US is fully aware of the need to comply with these strict conditions.

Since 1 March 2015, permission has been granted subject to these conditions in respect of 343 requests for landings by United States military aircraft at Shannon Airport. The US is also granted blanket permission for overflights by unarmed military aircraft. The US Embassy provides my Department with monthly returns on the total number of overflights by such aircraft. These returns show that there were 247 overflights by transport, passenger and refuelling aircraft in the period 1 March to 30 September 2015.