Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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8. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of times his Department was contacted by the Department of Transport and or the Department of Justice in relation to determining if any foreign policy issues need to be considered in the context of an application for an exemption under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989, since October 2023 to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40614/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989, it is expressly prohibited for civil aircraft to carry munitions of war in Irish sovereign territory, without being granted an exemption to do so by the Minister for Transport.

In considering any application for such an exemption, the Department of Transport consults with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice on applications to determine if there are foreign policy or security considerations to take into account. This process includes the provision of advice from my Department in respect of international humanitarian law, Ireland’s international obligations and our wider arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation policy.

The Department of Transport regularly publishes statistics related to the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft on the gov.ie website, which is available at this link:

www.gov.ie/en/publication/15da60-the-carriage-of-munitions-of-war-on-civil-aircraft/#statistics

The data the Deputy has requested for the period up to the end of August 2024 (the last complete month for which the data has been compiled) is as follows:

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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9. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of permissions under the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952 sought and granted for military aircraft to overfly or land in the State going to or from the Middle East, either directly or indirectly, by month, since October 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40615/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order, 1952, all foreign military aircraft wishing to overfly, or land in, the State require diplomatic clearance from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Diplomatic clearance is subject to strict conditions, including that the aircraft is unarmed; that it carries no arms, ammunition or explosives; that it does not engage in intelligence gathering; and that the flight in question does not form part of a military exercise or operation.

The policy of diplomatic clearance is well known and is fully understood by the United States and other international partners.

Details of permission sought and granted for military aircraft to overly and land in the state since October 2023 are listed in tabular form below.

I am fully satisfied that the stringent procedures for diplomatic clearance were followed in full on each of these occasions.

In establishing these figures, the following countries of the Middle East were considered to be in scope of the question: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. Syria, UAE and Yemen.

To ensure full transparency, information on all military flights is published on the gov.ie website and updated on a monthly basis. The details published on the website include the name of the requesting state.