Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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145. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason two US Air Force Hercules C130J aircraft numbers 14-5815 and 15-5832 were authorised to land at Shannon Airport about 19.30 on 3 July 2025, having come from Chania joint air base in Crete, and allowed to spend two overnights at Shannon Airport before flying on to Keflavik in Iceland on 5 July 2025; if any investigations or searches were carried out to establish whether these two specialised aircraft had been involved in recent US military operations in Gaza or Iran; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38531/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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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, and is done in full compliance with Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality.

It is the longstanding policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade not to disclose details relating to the specifics of diplomatic clearance requests, as such information is provided by Embassies in the expectation of the maintenance of confidentiality. Stringent procedures for diplomatic clearance were followed in full on each of these occasions.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is committed to the highest standards of transparency on this issue, and publishes monthly statistics in relation to overflights and landings of foreign military and state aircraft on the gov.ie website.