Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 December 2004
180 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Transport the amount paid by Government to the aviation authority in respect of US military aircraft over-flying Irish airspace for each year from 2000 to 2004; and the proportion of these funds which related to US military planes travelling to and from Iraq. [33672/04]
View answerThe 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 such as: flights under visual flight rules; flights performed by small aircraft; flights performed for the transport of heads of state; search and rescue flights, are exempt from paying en route charges. In the case of other categories such as: 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. Given this arrangement, the IAA costs in respect of 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 in respect of 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.
The total amounts, not including VAT, paid to the authority in the years 2000 to 2002 in respect of all exempted flights other than flights under visual flight rules are as follows: 2000, €1,139,283; 2001, €1,377,560; 2002, €1,642,541.
While it is not possible to provide an exact breakdown of these totals between military and other exempt flights, it is estimated that the latter comprises a very small proportion of the total payment. Eurocontrol has been requested to provide a more detailed breakdown, including the proportion relating to US military flights. I will revert to the Deputy when this information is to hand.
A total of €2.751 million not including VAT, was paid to the IAA for both en route and communications charges in respect of all exempted traffic in 2003, with US military flights accounting for approximately 90% of the total amounting to €2.48 million. The total paid between January 2004 and September 2004 amounts to €3.38 million, with US military flights accounting for approximately 86% of the total amounting to €2.9 million. The proportion of these amounts which related to US military flights travelling to or from Iraq is not known.
