Man arrested for alleged damage to plane at Shannon airport

A man has been arrested for alleged criminal damage of a US military aircraft at Shannon Airport.Operations at the airport were suspended for a short time while airport police and Gardai dealt with the issue.

Gardaí said a man entered the “unauthorised area of Shannon Airport” in Co Clare on Saturday morning. They subsequently arrested a man in his 40’s under the Criminal Justice Act and brought him to a station in the Clare/Tipperary division for questioning.Footage has been circulated on social media, showing a man climbing on a military transport plane and appearing to hit the plane with an object.

A spokeswoman for Shannon Airport said it had resumed operations following the incident “which required gardai assistance”.

She said: “The airport suspended operations at approximately 9.50am and operations resumed at 10.15am.”

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said: “An adult male, aged in his 40s, was arrested for alleged criminal damage by gardaí shortly before 11am and is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 in a Garda Station in the Clare Tipperary Division.”