Petitions Committee to meet Department of Foreign Affairs on US Military use of Shannon

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions will meet tomorrow afternoon with senior diplomats to consider a petition calling for an investigation into the US Military and CIA use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace.

2 December 2014

Niall Burgess, Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will address the Committee on Ireland’s longstanding policy of military neutrality.  

Dr Edward Horgan, Margaretta D’Arcy and Dr John Lannon of the Shannonwatch organisation addressed the Committee on their petition in June, and a delegation from the Committee visited Shannon in October to hear a range of perspectives on the issue.

Chairman of the Committee Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD says: “This petition is a request to the Oireachtas Petitions Committee to examine the legislative and legal international peace and accountability implications that arise from the authorisation by successive Irish Governments from 2001 to date, of the use of Shannon airport and Irish airspace for the transit of United States armed troops, munitions and other war materials, and of the refuelling of CIA associated aircraft involved in the so-called extraordinary rendition of prisoners.

“In October, a Committee delegation travelled to Co Clare for a valuable series of meetings with airport officials, Gardaí and Shannonwatch representatives. Some of those we met pointed to the fact that Ireland’s traditional military neutrality is not a fundamental law or principle enshrined in our Constitution, but rather a foreign policy pursued by successive governments over the decades. Tomorrow’s meeting with Niall Burgess, the most senior diplomat in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will afford the Committee an insight into this complex and sometimes controversial policy area.”

The meeting takes place tomorrow Wednesday 3 December in Committee Room 3, LH 2000 at 4 pm, commencing in private session. Public proceedings are anticipated to commence at 4:15 pm and can be viewed online here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

Get involved and access petitions website.

For media enquiries contact:

Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
E: paul.hand@oireachtas.ie

Committee Membership

Deputies:
Richard Boyd-Barrett, Independent
Noel Harrington, Fine Gael
Michael Healy-Rae, Independent
Seamus Kirk, Fianna Fáil
Michael P. Kitt, Fianna Fáil
Pádraig MacLochlainn (Chairman), Sinn Fein
Helen McEntee, Fine Gael
Michelle Mulherin, Fine Gael
Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Labour
Patrick O'Donovan, Fine Gael
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Sinn Féin
Sean Kenny, Labour
John Halligan, Independent
Jack Wall, Labour

Senators:
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Sinn Féin
Jimmy Harte, Labour
Tony Mulcahy, Fine Gael
Susan O’Keeffe, Labour
Ned O'Sullivan, Fianna Fáil