US 'Veterans for Peace' ask is Gilmore taking us for fools over Pentagon using Shannon?

» Mark Moloney

'If these US military planes were not on military missions, then why did 548 of them need to land at Shannon Airport last year?'

THE IRISH Government needs to tell the truth about the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, says campaign group Shannonwatch, after it emerged that Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore's department told Sinn Féin that it gave the green light for 548 US military aircraft to use the airport during 2012.

In response to questions from Sinn Féin's Seán Crowe, the Labour leader said that his department had approved 548 US military flights to land at the airport in 2012 but claimed they were all unarmed, carried no weapons or explosives, and were not part of military exercises or gathering intelligence.

Gerry Condon of US organisation Veterans for Peace said he found the claims astonishing.

"If these US military planes were not on military missions, then why did 548 of them need to land at Shannon Airport last year?"

"Do the US and Irish governments take us all for fools?"

John Lannon of Irish organisation Shannonwatch noted that there is no legal requirement for the identification of any specific military unit being transported through the airport:

"So how can Minister Gilmore can be so sure that the troops being transported on Hercules C-130s or other military planes are not part of military exercises or operations?” 

Retired US military colonel Ann Wright – who gave an in-depth interview in the March edition of An Phoblacht – said she had never heard of any US military flights where there was not at least a small number of armed personnel onboard.

John Lannon says it's time for the Irish Government to tell the truth about what is being taken through Shannon and Irish airspace:

“They claim to care about neutrality and international law but their inaction tells a different story. Given what they know from information already supplied by Shannonwatch and others, their failure to inspect US military aircraft at Shannon may well amount to complicity in human rights abuse and war crimes.”