US military flights landing at Shannon 'seriously undermining' Irish neutrality, says TD
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More than 220,000 US soldiers have travelled through Shannon Airport over the last three-and-a-half years, new figures show.
Over the last three years, the most American troops passed through Shannon Airport in 2022, where there were 83,037 soldiers transiting, according to figures provided by the Department of Transport.
This was followed by 55,907 in 2023 and then 51,834 in 2021. Between January and July of this year, there were 30,007 US soldiers that transited through the airport. In total, there were 220,785 US personnel that stopped through Shannon Airport since 2021.
This compares to the 93,852 that went through the airport in 2019, while in 2018 there were 86,653 troops passing through. Neutrality campaigner Dr Edward Horgan, a former Defence Forces member, said that he is concerned about the troops moving through Shannon Airport.
“In spite of Government assurances that nothing is going through to Israel, we believe that is not correct. The planes that are going through Shannon, US military planes in particular, are going to other airports like Bahrain and Kuwait.
“These are delivery points and some of that stuff [on board] is most likely going on to Israel.
“The fact that flights don’t go directly to Israel doesn’t necessarily mean what’s in them is not being delivered to Israel.”
People Before Profit TD, Richard Boyd Barrett, described the use of Shannon airport by US forces as “alarming and unacceptable”.
He said that the use of Shannon is “seriously undermining” Irish neutrality and makes Ireland complicit with the “warmongering of the United States”.
“It is completely unacceptable that Shannon or any Irish airport or Irish airspace should be used in any way to facilitate the US military, who are up to their necks in the crimes being committed by Israel against the Palestinians,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.
The latest figures come as renewed focus has arisen over reports that Israeli aircraft have flown weaponry from the United States to Israel through Irish airspace.
Concerns have repeatedly been raised by campaigners that the Irish state has no way of checking if military aircraft landing at Shannon is carrying weaponry. However, in recent months, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed that work is ongoing on legislation to allow for inspections.
He confirmed last week that engagement is ongoing with both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General on potential legislation.
Latest figures from the Department of Transport show that there have been 681 applications granted to carry munitions on civil aircraft. Of these, 170 were granted permission to land or take off from Ireland, while 275 got permission to fly through Irish airspace.
Only four were refused by the Department of Transport, while 17 were cancelled by airlines.