Skip to main content
Normal View

Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 15 May 2024

Vol. 300 No. 9

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Air Traffic Control Services

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Martin Heydon, and I thank him for being here. The first matter is in the name of Senator Clonan who has four minutes.

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the Minister of State for coming in. First of all, I would like to apologise. I came in on the DART this morning and there was a false signal at Bray, so I was delayed as a result. I thank the House for its flexibility.

I ask that the Minister for Transport state how much the Department of Transport has paid the Irish Aviation Authority. These are exempted fees for en route air traffic control services provided to US and foreign military aircraft passing through Irish airspace under the Minister's control.

In Ireland there is always a focus on aircraft on the ground at Shannon Airport and on troops on the ground there. In fact, I am the only Irish journalist ever to have interviewed US troops transiting through Shannon, of which millions of them do en route to the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere.

My focus this morning is on aircraft that are passing through our airspace. These are aircraft that we cannot see. They are up at 37,000 ft. or 39,000 ft. There are literally hundreds of these military aircraft passing through our airspace. Under an international agreement, Eurocontrol, they do not have to pay their air navigation control costs; we pick up that tab.

The last time this question was asked in the early noughties, the Irish taxpayer was paying €10,000 per day towards the air navigation costs of US military aircraft heading towards Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite the fact we are a militarily neutral state, we were making a financial contribution of €10,000 per day for these aircraft up at 37,000 ft. carrying troops, weapons and ammunition.

My reason for asking this question is that there ar 600,000 children in Rafah. At present the United States is supplying the Israelis with heavy ordinance BLU-109, 1,000 kg high-explosive devices. BLU stands for bomb live unit. The United States is also supplying guided bomb units for deployment by aircraft in Rafah, where there are 600,000 children kettled into that place. Their only cover is canvass from tents. They are malnourished and they do not have water or sanitation. The acts are, as I said yesterday, if not genocidal, then femicidal. Some 34 women are killed everyday in Rafah as well as a larger number of children. Three children are being killed every two hours on a daily basis in Rafah.

If I get one piece of high explosives, the size of a cigarette packet, and I detonate it under a car, as happened in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, for example, the vehicle would be unrecognisable after that amount of high explosives. Can you imagine the impact of 1,000 kg of high explosives dropped into a densely populated area? I know about this because I have seen it as a peacekeeper. I have seen the Israelis do it to Lebanese civilians. What you get with high explosives are high heat, shockwaves and the internal organs of children and women being pulped and their bones shattered. They suffer horrific soft-tissue injuries, decapitation, limb separation and the shrapnel effects are equally horrific.

Shrapnel effects are equally horrific. We, as a State, have shown great leadership in condemning Israel's disproportionate response in Rafah and Gaza. However, we must not make a financial contribution to the delivery of such weapons that result in the killing of, at this point, 35,000 innocent civilians - some 25,000 of whom have been positively identified, including 8,000 children and infants. I ask the Minister of Transport, Deputy Ryan, to tell us how much we are contributing, and whether we could raise this with our American friends and ask them not to transit through our airspace in this way.

I thank Senator Clonan for raising this matter. I answer this on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, who is unable to attend the Seanad today. As the Senator stated, the Department of Transport, has long exempted certain classes of airspace uses for the payment of en route air navigation charges. This arrangement derives from the exclusion of state aircraft from the scope of the 1944 Chicago Convention, which established the International Civil Aviation Organisations, ICAO. While the application of the exemption from charges is at the discretion of the state concerned, the policy and general practice at international level is to exempt such flights from charges.

Ireland is a member of Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental organisation comprising 41 European states that provides a key forum for co-operation and collaboration between states at a detailed technical level in the provision of air navigation services. Ireland, as a party to Eurocontrol’s multilateral agreement, exempts certain categories of flights such as those which operate under visual flight rules, flights performed by small aircraft, flights performed for the transport of Heads of State and search and rescue flights from paying en route charges. In the case of other categories of flights, such as military flights, training flights, flights performed to test air navigation equipment, and circular flights that depart and land at the same airport, states have the option to exempt such flights from payment of the en route charge. Ireland, in common with the vast majority of Eurocontrol's 41 member states, subscribes to this practice. All Eurocontrol member states exempt military flights to some degree.

The details of the sums paid by the Department to the AirNav Ireland to cover en route exempted military flights was as follows: €1.1 million in 2019; €820,000 in 2020; €910,000 in 2021; €1.1 million in 2022; €1.07 million 2023.

The mechanics of the exemption of certain classes of aircraft from en route charges involves AirNav Ireland recording where such services were provided to these flights, and then applying to the Department of Transport for reimbursement of the costs incurred. I note the Senator referred to the Irish Aviation Authority in the topic heading. However, responsibility for air navigation service provision has passed to AirNav Ireland from 1 May 2023. Consequently, AirNav Ireland has provided and billed for all air navigation services provided after that date. Previous figures would have applied to the Irish Aviation Authority, which is now the regulatory body, rather than the service provider. The exemption applies to charges for communications and navigation but does not cover terminal charges such as landing fees. Consequently, no reimbursement occurs for landing charges.

In the context of neutrality and the effect of the exemption of military air traffic from en route air navigation service charges, the State’s relations with other nations and military matters are the domain of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defence. However, it should be noted that Ireland’s exemption for military traffic applies to all military aircraft equally. It is done in the interest of maintaining safe transit of military traffic through our airspace. Ireland occupies a pivotal geographical location between North America and continental Europe and Irish-controlled airspace acts as a gateway for aviation between the two continents. The policy is, therefore, not favourable to one state over another. It is based on generally applicable principles applied by Eurocontrol member states.

I thank the Minister of State. Senator Clonan has one minute to reply.

Go raibh maith ag an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for the detail in his response. I appreciate that. While this may be the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs, there is collective responsibility at Cabinet level. What the Department of Transport does cannot be disconnected from our neutral status. I raise this because of what is happening in Rafah. We must use every means at our disposal to prevent and to stop the absolute slaughter of children, men and women that is going to come in the coming weeks, which will bring the world community completely into disrepute.

I appreciate the Minister of State's colleagues, our Taoiseach and Tánaiste, who have been very strong on condemning the disproportionate response. However, we are very sensitive about the deaths of 34 people in Dublin 50 years ago. How would we feel if thousands of kilograms of high explosives - and these are dumb, free-fall weapons, as opposed to guided or precision weapons - were being dropped on Dublin and the air transport costs were being paid for by our European neighbours? I use this as an opportunity to perhaps raise this again with our American colleagues to leverage our good relationship with them to not use our airspace to participate in the genocide that is taking place in Rafah.

I thank Senator Clonan again for raising this important point. The exemption of certain classes of flights from en route air navigation charges is a long-standing pratice, notwithstanding the specific points the Senator has made, which I will come back to. It is a long-standing practice set down in the Eurocontrol multilateral agreement, of which Ireland is a party. Ireland, in common with other Eurocontrol member states, which includes military flights in the exempt category in the interests of a safe and efficient air navigation system for both civil and military aviation. The exemption applies solely to en route proportion of the flight and not for landing charges. The exemption applies to the category of military flights as a whole. As I said earlier, it does not distinguish between states in terms of military traffic and does not constitute a preference for one nation's military over another. In this sense, it is impartial. It is done in the interest of providing an open and safe service to all air traffic to ensure that the military aircraft is co-ordinated safely alongside civilian traffic, to the benefit of the whole system.

I will bring the Senator's specific point regarding Rafah and the horrendous situation there that has been perpetrated on the people in that space back to the Minister. I take the Senator's point that this needs collectively needs to be looked at by Government.

I thank the Minister of State for his time. We appreciate him coming to the Seanad.

Dublin-Monaghan Bombings

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to the Seanad. The next Commencement matter we will take is in the name of Senator Gallagher.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am somewhat disappointed the Minister, Deputy McEntee, was not in a position to attend the debate this morning, bearing in mind it is the 50th anniversary. I appreciate she is busy, however. I appreciate the Minister of State taking time out of his schedule to be here to take this Commencement matter.

On Friday this week, President Michael D. Higgins will visit Monaghan town to lay a wreath to commemorate the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, some 50 years ago. Some 33 people lost their lives in Monaghan and Dublin on that fatal day. It was the greatest loss of life in a single day during the Troubles. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families and victims this week. It is said that to be forgotten is to die twice and we can only imagine the pain and the grief the families continue to endure. Pain that is compounded by the absence - for five decades - of the truth of what actually happened on 17 May 1974. I pay tribute to all those who worked down through the years to try to lift the lid on this mystery. I pay particular credit to Justice for the Forgotten, among others, and the tireless work it has done down through the years.

We gather here in this Chamber and in the Dáil each year to discuss progress for the victims, survivors and their families. Unfortunately, each year, we have little new to report because of the British Government's blockage of co-operation on this particular issue. However, this week we have heard that Ian Livingstone, the former senior police officer responsible for investigating the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings has said he has received access to never before seen top-secret material. Mr. Livingstone is leading a number of historic investigations into the Troubles, including Operation Denton, an investigation into a loyalist Glenanne gang, which has been blamed for approximately 120 sectarian murders in the 1970s and 1980s and is indeed suspected of carrying out the no-warning Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

Previous investigations have been stymied by the British Government's refusal to release key intelligence documents. However, Mr. Livingstone has said the information he has now obtained will give us "as detailed a picture as would be possible to get" and that the investigation has "seen everything that exists up to and including top secret cabinet meetings of the British government". He has said the investigation has "seen all information that's there to allow us make a full report on the circumstances around the Glennane series". I also understand that An Garda Síochána has handed over documents pertaining to Operation Denton, including intelligence files. I look forward to the release of that report later this year.

When we get both reports, where will that leave us? Will the Minister of State give us an update on the Irish Government's understanding of the status of those two reports? Will he illustrate what the pathway will be following the publication of those reports? Will he assure us everything will be done to ensure the victims and their families will finally get closure regarding what happened to them and their families on 17 May 1974? I pay tribute to all those volunteers, including the fire service and Civil Defence, who went to the aid of those in Monaghan in the immediate aftermath of that bombing. Next Friday will be an horrific and very emotional day in Monaghan. If possible, I would like the Minister of State to outline the status of those two reports, the timeframes for their publication and, more importantly, what the Irish and British Governments intend to do to finally bring closure to the people of Monaghan and Dublin.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I apologise that the Minister for Justice cannot be here this morning. She has asked me to deal with the matter on her behalf.

First, I express the Government’s condolences and my own to the families whose loved ones were killed and to those who were injured in the terrible events of 17 May 1974. It is hard to believe that, on a day such as this almost 50 years ago, so many people going about their daily lives had those lives callously and brutally attacked and changed forever. The survivors and the families of the victims remain firm in their quest for justice and for information about what happened to their loved ones. Unfortunately, as with so many other incidents of violence on this island during the Troubles, they still seek the truth.

The Government is fully committed to seeking out the truth behind these events. We have worked consistently to implement the all-party motions adopted by the other House calling on the British Government to allow access to all relevant documents relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and we continue to regularly raise this case with the British Government. Most recently, on 29 April, at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs raised the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, noting the upcoming 50th anniversary and emphasising the need for a considered response to progress this matter. The Government will continue to raise these bombings and the all-party motions with the British Government. The passage of a further motion by the other House last evening provided another opportunity to send a clear message to our counterparts in Westminster and to the British Government regarding the strong and enduring support for the victims and survivors in their pursuit of justice.

Senator Gallagher referred to reports due to be published on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. First, there is the report of Operation Denton. Operation Denton is a review being carried out by Operation Kenova that refers to a series of ongoing UK independent investigations or reviews into Northern Ireland legacy cases. In November 2019, it was announced that Operation Kenova was to carry out an independent analytical review into the Glennane gang, known as Operation Denton, and the terms of reference were agreed in February 2020. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings are included as one of the incidents within the remit of Operation Denton. A further report is to be published by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. The ombudsman investigation, entitled Operation Newham, is examining collusion with the Glennane gang and other activities by the Ulster Volunteer Force, UVF, in mid-Ulster. Operation Newham is an extremely broad-ranging investigation which has been ongoing for a number of years.

The Government is fully committed to assisting the families and finding the truth of what happened. For example, when a legal issue arose that would have prevented the provision of Garda material to Operation Denton, the Minister for Justice took extraordinary steps to put in place a bespoke mechanism to allow relevant information from An Garda Síochána be shared with Operation Denton. Subsequently, members of the Operation Denton team have been facilitated in accessing relevant records. The Government remains hopeful the Operation Kenova and Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland reports will be published in the coming months and provide more answers for all those affected by this terrible atrocity.

I thank the Minister of State very much for his comprehensive response to my Commencement matter. They say that justice delayed is justice denied. That is very much the case in respect of Monaghan and Dublin. Fifty years on, a shadow continues to hang over the town of Monaghan. That shadow will remain until those survivors, whose lives' journey has moved a good bit on, get closure for their families, which they would like while they are still around. I sincerely hope they get that closure 50 years on. We hope the publication of these reports will lead to a pathway through which they finally get what they have sought for more than half a century: truth and justice for the loved ones they so tragically lost.

I fully accept what the Senator has said; justice delayed is justice denied. As he will be aware, later this week, we will be marking the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. It is a tragic day recorded in our history, the deadliest single day of the Troubles. On Friday, there will be commemoration events in Dublin and Monaghan attended by the President and representatives of the Government. All of the victims and survivors of those brutal bombings will be remembered. The Good Friday Agreement recognised the need for particular acknowledgement of the position of victims. The Government will not forget our duty to victims and survivors. We will persevere in our efforts to seek out the truth behind the tragic events of 17 May 1974, through which we hope to secure some measure of comfort for those affected by these callous attacks. In seeking out the truth, the Government welcomes the inclusion of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in the remit of Operation Denton and Operation Newham. We remain hopeful these reports will provide more answers for all of the victims, the survivors and the families of those affected. It has been a long time for all of those who lost family members, whose family members were injured or who were injured themselves. From their point of view, it is disappointing that answers have not been given. It is to be hoped we will in the coming months get some more information and more answers to the questions we have asked.

I thank the Minister of State for his time here this morning. It is appreciated. I thank Senators Clonan and Gallagher for their Commencement matters.

Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 10.59 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 11.30 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 10.59 p.m. and resumed at 11.30 a.m.
Top
Share