Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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61. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 53 and 200 of 14 June 2018, if the plane in question was located in Irish controlled airspace when the emergency was discovered; if so, if this is normal practice; and his views on whether this practice is acceptable. [27364/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As I have indicated to the Deputy in related Parliamentary Question answers, an extremely urgent request for landing facilities was granted on 3 June 2018 for a US military aircraft to land at Shannon Airport on the basis that this was purely an emergency situation. The aircraft concerned was not in Irish sovereign airspace when the emergency was declared nor was it scheduled to enter Irish sovereign airspace under its original flight plan. The Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order gives the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade primary responsibility for the regulation of activity, both landing in the State and overflying Irish sovereign airspace, by foreign military aircraft. Management of Irish controlled airspace is a matter for the Irish Aviation Authority, a statutory state body operating under the aegis of the Minster for Transport, Tourism and Sport.