Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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276. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of aircraft that entered Irish air space without permission during each of the years 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025; the countries from which these aircraft originated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28759/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Irish airspace is managed by AirNav Ireland who provide air traffic management services to air operators transiting Irish airspace as well as air traffic control services at the three State owned airports.

The right for air operators to operate in and through Irish sovereign airspace is governed by a range of agreements to which the State is a party.

One of the key aims of the Chicago Convention of 1944, to which over 190 states are contracting parties, was to contribute to the growth and efficiency of civil aviation. A key tenet of the Convention is that it confers the right for non-scheduled flights to overfly and make stops for technical purposes in the territories of the contracting parties without requiring permissions. At the same time the Chicago Convention was signed, an additional agreement, the International Air Services Transit Agreement, was also signed which provides the same right for scheduled flights. As a result of these two agreements, the vast majority of flights which enter into, or transit through, Irish sovereign airspace do not require prior permission to do so.

Additionally in relation to commercial flights which intend to land in the State and either set down or pick up passengers or cargo, these are managed through a framework of bilateral agreements or multilateral agreements to which the State is a party, including the EU-US Open Skies agreement for example. These agreements, grant the right to operate commercial air services between the contracting parties.

Privately operated flights and general aviation flights are outside of these agreements and are not required to seek permission to enter Irish airspace.

The significance of these agreements and the automatic rights they confer is evident when you consider that during 2024, AirNav Ireland managed over 380,600 overflights in Irish controlled airspace, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of air transportation services in our airspace.

Finally, the operation of foreign state or military aircraft in Irish sovereign territory is a matter for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.