Austin Deasy
Question:16 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Defence whether the Air Corps have the capability of intercepting aircraft which might be violating Ireland's air space. [5153/96]
Written Answers. - Air Space Violations.
In general, military aircraft from different countries overflying Irish airspace are in receipt of annual blanket diplomatic clearance from Ireland for such overflights. The blanket diplomatic clearance is a reciprocal measure for the granting by these countries of the same type of clearance to Ireland for Irish military aircraft to overfly their airspace.
It is a condition of the blanket clearance that the operators of the aircraft pass details of each proposed flight, i.e. date, timing etc. to the Department of Foreign Affairs, who copy the information to the Departments of Justice and Defence for information. In addition, I should stress that a further condition of each flight is that no armaments, munitions, photographic or intelligence gathering equipment are carried on the aircraft. The system of blanket clearance and prior notification of proposed flights works satisfactorily and I am not aware of any problems arising in relation to violation of Irish airspace.
It is not the practice to furnish information involving matters of a security nature in regard to equipment available to the Defence Forces.