Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018
894. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 339 of 23 October 2018, the reason he is not in a position to supply the number of troops carried as passengers per flight. [45249/18]
View answer895. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 557, 559 and 560 of 23 October 2018, the number of weapons and munitions and or ammunition carried on each of these five aircraft. [45250/18]
View answer896. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 557, 559 and 560 of 23 October 2018, if decisions whether to grant permission for the use of landing and refuelling facilities at Shannon Airport by aircraft on contract to the US military are not now and have not been since 2001 the same as those applied in years preceding 2001 as was demonstrated in documents discovered by a person (details supplied) from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade records during a High Court case. [45251/18]
View answer897. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way in which statistics are produced on the number of US troops travelling through Shannon Airport on an annual basis as was done, for example, in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 593 of 27 February 2018; if it is not possible for his Department to supply the number of troops carried as passengers per flight as stated in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 559 of 23 October 2018. [45253/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 894 to 897, inclusive, together.
As the Deputy will be aware, the functions of the Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order 1973, (as amended) relate only to the carriage of munitions on board civil aircraft. My Department does not maintain records of the number of troops transiting through Shannon Airport. It is understood that Shannon Airport Authority maintains statistics on all passenger numbers, including US troops, transiting through the airport. Under the provisions of the Order an exemption is granted in respect of specified aircraft in regard to a particular aircraft operation. A single exemption permit is issued per aircraft and the permit is not based on the number of weapons and munitions carried on board each aircraft.
The granting of an Exemption for the carriage of munitions of war is organised around a long-established procedure for considering applications from airlines to land aircraft in Ireland or transit through Irish sovereign airspace with munitions of war on board. Decisions on whether to grant permission for the carriage of munitions are guided by the views of other relevant Government Departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice. In the event that any objections are raised in relation to prevailing Foreign Policy considerations, the relevant applications are refused by my Department.
