Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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224. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade why he gave permission for an aeroplane (details supplied) to land at Shannon Airport in County Clare on 25 May 2016 given that it has a range of up to 6,000 nautical miles without refuelling and should have had no need to land there. [14060/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, 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.

Permission must be sought in advance for landings by all foreign military aircraft, including US aircraft, and if granted, is subject to 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 part of military exercises or operations.

My Department approved a request to permit a US military C-32B aircraft to land at Shannon airport on 25 May 2016 for re-fuelling, subject to the strict conditions set out above. It is not the policy of my Department to query operational decisions of foreign governments concerning frequency and location of re-fuelling.