URGENT calls are being made for the Government to introduce legislation to allow for routine and random physical inspections of aircraft at Shannon Airport.
Labour TD for Limerick City, Conor Sheehan, submitted a parliamentary question on the matter, the reply to which confirmed that no such thing is planned, and that no inspections currently take place unless suspicion already exists.
It was also confirmed that no new legislation on the matter is being progressed at this time.
Deputy Sheehan said that “the response to my parliamentary question is troubling”.
“The Minister has effectively confirmed that inspections only occur if there is already an appearance of wrongdoing, while simultaneously stating that no such suspicion has ever arisen. That is not oversight. That is blind trust, and blind trust cannot be the basis for policy.”
The Limerick TD suggested that “what Government is saying, in plain terms, is that Ireland has no system of independent, routine, or random physical inspections of aircraft landing at Shannon, even though the airport plays a well-documented role in facilitating US military movements”.
“We only look if we already believe something is wrong, and we have never allowed ourselves to look closely enough to form that belief. That circular logic would not pass muster in any serious regulatory system and it should not be acceptable here.”
The Labour TD also described an alleged lack of decision to introduce legislation to allow for routine or random inspections as “a political choice”, claiming that legislation needs to be put forward “now and not at some undefined point in the future”.
“The international context matters. What we are witnessing in the United States and across the world is a profound shift in the global order. Against that backdrop, it is extraordinary that Ireland still lacks a clear legislative framework to allow independent inspections at Shannon Airport”, Deputy Sheehan explained. “Relying on a suspicion threshold that is never met because inspections do not happen is not neutrality, it is negligence.”
In response to Deputy Sheehan’s question, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that: “Article 8 of the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989 empowers the Minster for Transport to carry out an inspection of civil aircraft flying from any place within the State.”
“The exercise of this power is conditional on there being an appearance, to the Minster for Transport, of an intention or likelihood that the civil aircraft concerned is to fly in such circumstances that would be in contravention of the 1973 and 1989 orders.
“To date, such an appearance of intention or likelihood of contravention has not occurred. No decision has been taken on the introduction of legislation.”