Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Mar 2003

Vol. 563 No. 1

Written Answers - Military Aircraft.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

174 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Transport the number of aircraft carrying military personnel which landed at Shannon Airport and flew over Irish airspace in each of the past six months; and the total cost to the taxpayer in each case. [7138/03]

Minister for Transport (Mr. Brennan)

My Department is responsible for civil aviation; approvals for military aircraft are a matter for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Civil aircraft carrying military personnel, but not any munitions of war or weapons, do not require any approval or exemption from me in order to over-fly Ireland or to land at Irish airports.

Any civil aircraft carrying military personnel and their personal weapons require an exemption from me from the prohibition on the carrying of munitions of war or weapons. The number of such exemptions for civil aircraft carrying military personnel and munitions of war or weapons granted by me for flights taking place in each of the past six months are as follows: September to December 2002: none; January 2003: 35 landings, no over-flights; and February 2003: 52 landings and 18 over-flights.

The Irish Aviation Authority 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 airport terminals. The IAA controls some 100,000 sq miles of international airspace in addition to domestic airspace.

Ireland exempts military flights from payment of the en route and communications charges. Due to this arrangement the IAA costs in relation to military flights are met from my Department's Vote.

The amount, not including VAT, paid to the IAA in the year 2002, inclusive, in relation to all exempted flights other than flights under visual flight rules was €1,642,541. While it is not possible to provide an exact breakdown of this total between military and other exempt flights, it is estimated that the latter comprises a very small proportion of the total payment. It should be noted that the amount for 2002 includes the reimbursement of the en route and communications charge to the IAA for all military flights in Irish controlled airspace as distinct from Irish sovereign airspace. No further breakdown of this figure is available to my Department. There are no figures yet available in relation to 2003.

Question No. 175 answered with Question No. 163.