Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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25. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 3 November 2015, if he is satisfied that our stated foreign policy of neutrality is not compromised by the use of Shannon Airport by the United States military, which has landed over 343 military aircraft there since March 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45413/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality is characterised by non-participation in military alliances. The Government’s continued commitment to this policy was re-confirmed in its Foreign Policy Review “The Global Island,” and in its White Paper on Defence, published earlier this year.

Successive Governments have made landing facilities at Shannon Airport available to the United States for well over 50 years. Permission must be sought in advance for landings by all foreign military aircraft, including US aircraft, and if granted, is subject to the strict conditions which I outlined in my reply of 3 November.

These arrangements do not amount to any form of military alliance with the United States and are consistent with our policy of military neutrality.