Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2004
89 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Transport the reason the Government exempted US military aircraft from fees which apply to commercial flights for the use of Shannon Airport over the past two years; the amount the Government will pay to the Irish Aviation Authority in reimbursements following this exemption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32337/04]
View answer92 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Transport if he has considered the implications for Irish foreign policy of allowing and subsidising the traffic of combatants through Shannon Airport for passage to, as described by the United Nations General Secretary, Mr. Kofi Annan, an illegal war; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30074/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 92 together.
The use of Shannon Airport by US military forces is a longstanding practice which has been in place for several decades, a period which has covered many crises and military confrontations, several of which involved the US taking military action without specific UN endorsement, for example, Kosovo. We have never withdrawn or suspended those facilities. Foreign military aircraft using the State airports pay the appropriate airport charge to each airport authority.
The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, provides air traffic control and communications services to aircraft which pass through Irish controlled airspace, en route, and aircraft landing and taking off from Irish Airports, terminal. Only a small proportion of military flights through Irish administered airspace actually pass through Irish sovereign airspace. Irish administered airspace covers 135,000 square miles, of which 32,000 square miles is sovereign airspace.
Under a Eurocontrol — European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation — multilateral agreement to which Ireland is a party, various categories of flights, that is, flights under visual flight rules, flights performed by small aircraft, flights performed for the transport of heads of state and search and rescue flights, are exempt from paying en route charges. In the case of other categories, that is, military flights, training flights, flights performed to test air navigation equipment and circular flights, states have the option to exempt such flights from payment of the en route charge. In common with most Eurocontrol member states, Ireland exempts all such flights, including military flights of member states of Eurocontrol, United States and Canada, from payment of the en route charge and this arrangement has applied since Ireland joined the Eurocontrol en route charging scheme in the early 1970s. Due to this arrangement, the IAA costs relating to military flights are met from my Department’s Vote.
From information received from Eurocontrol, it is understood that Austria, Finland, Switzerland and Moldova do not at present grant exempted status to US military flights. However, my Department understands that invoices issued by the above states to the US authorities in respect of military flights have not been paid.
Ireland also exempts military aircraft flights from payment of the communications charge and the IAA costs relating to those charges are also met from my Department's Vote. Efforts to collect this charge in the early 1990s were unsuccessful and, following advice from the Attorney General, debts then outstanding were written off with the agreement of the Department of Finance and a decision taken to cease charging the communications fee to military aircraft.
A total of €6.1 million, not including VAT, has been paid to the IAA between January 2003 and September 2004 for both en route and communications charges in respect of all exempted traffic. US military flights account for approximately 90% of the total, amounting to €5.5 million.
With regard to the terminal charge for air traffic control services for military aircraft, this is a matter for the Irish Aviation Authority. The United States and Canadian military authorities have refused to pay the authority and other air navigation service providers of Eurocontrol member states as they contend that the 1944 Chicago Convention is applicable only to civil aircraft and that this automatically implies an exemption for state and military aircraft from air navigation fees.
