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Military Aircraft

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2020

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Questions (324)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

324. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of permits granted for military aircraft to land at Shannon Airport and to pass through Irish airspace to date in 2020; the number of permits refused for military aircraft to land at Shannon Airport and to pass through Irish airspace to date in 2020; the countries the requests were made by; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40229/20]

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Written answers

Permission for foreign military aircraft to land in or overfly the State is subject to strict conditions. These routinely include stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and must not engage in intelligence gathering, and that the flights in question must not form part of military exercises or operations. Overflights by US military aircraft are permitted without prior notification, where the aircraft are unarmed, carry only cargo and passengers and comply with navigational requirements.

The following tables detail the permissions granted to land at Shannon airport or overfly Irish sovereign airspace from 1 January to 31 October of this year. The number of those flights which were cancelled is also shown. In addition, permission for overflight was refused in one case where the aircraft in question did not meet our strict criteria.

Foreign military aircraft landings at Shannon Airport 1 January to 31 October 2020

Country Requesting Clearance

Number of Permissions

Bahrain

1

Belgium

10 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)

Canada

1

Egypt

1 (this flight subsequently cancelled)

France

12

Italy

1

Netherlands

6

Palestine

2

Russia

3 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)

UK

1 (this flight subsequently cancelled)

USA

236 (11 flights subsequently cancelled)

Total

274

Foreign military aircraft overflights 1 January 2020 to 31 October 2020

Country Requesting Clearance

Number of Permissions

Australia

1

Belgium

8

Canada

9

Colombia

1

Congo

1

Czech Republic

1

Egypt

17 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)

France

22 (1 flights subsequently cancelled)

Germany

26 (3 flights subsequently cancelled)

Greece

4 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)

Hungary

22

Italy

19 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)

Jordan

5

Kuwait

2

Netherlands

2

Nigeria

1

Qatar

21 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)

Russia

1

Serbia

1

Slovak Republic

2

Switzerland

4 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)

Tunisia

5 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)

UK

3 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)

USA

399

TOTAL

577

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