John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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47. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to respond to reports that substantial amounts of munitions intended for the Israeli military are being transported through Irish airspace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42050/24]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Brady. I ask the Minister to respond to reports that substantial volumes of munitions intended for the Israeli military are being transported through Irish airspace, and if he will make a statement on the matter. In fairness, there has been a fair amount in the public domain about this. We know that we need to ensure that we are not in any way facilitating what is going on in Gaza or the wider Middle East by the IDF at this time. Obviously, the Tánaiste has spoken before about the only point of them doing it is to save fuel, but we need to make sure that in no way, shape or form is any of this allowed.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, for allowing me to address this question.

Under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders, 1973 and 1989, the carriage of munitions of war by civil aircraft in Irish sovereign territory and by Irish-registered civil aircraft, wherever they are operating, is prohibited, unless an exemption from this prohibition is granted by the Minister for Transport. From 19 August, media reports began to be published alleging contraventions Irish legislation by a number of air operators. As the Deputy can appreciate, it was important that my Department verified in the first instance that the alleged operations did, in fact, enter Irish sovereign airspace and not just the broader area of Irish-controlled airspace outside of our jurisdiction. Once this information has been verified my officials are then in a position to engage with the air operators concerned to seek detail in relation to the cargo carried.

Although the examination of what was carried on these flights is ongoing, provisionally it appears that several may not have been required to seek an exemption. It appears that some of the cargo carried may not have required an exemption, or at the very least there is ambiguity as to whether an exemption may have been required. The Deputy will appreciate that I must ensure that any future action that may be taken regarding any alleged contravention of our laws will not be prejudiced by anything that I might say in this House. As such, I cannot speak to the specificity of the initial analysis undertaken by officials.

The issue of overflights and the operation of air traffic management is a complex matter. Circumstances can arise where an air operator is directed or required by air traffic control to enter the sovereign airspace of a territory that it initially had not intended to operate in, thus it had not anticipated requiring certain permissions from that State. This could be for several reasons such as weather issues or traffic flow management. Examining each individual flight’s cargo and understanding the reasoning for the route flown is complex and time-consuming. My officials are continuing to examine the information received to date and are seeking additional information as needed. I await the completion of these examinations by my officials. The actions to be taken then will have to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. An offence is provided for in Irish law and my officials are exploring the legal powers which regulate this matter.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Thank you, Minister.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I will come back with the remainder in my follow-up answer.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Could the Minister provide a timeline for when the examination will be completed? What we had seen on The Ditch about what was believed to be weaponry travelling through Irish sovereign airspace would not be acceptable, I hope, to most right-thinking people regarding what is a genocidal slaughter being carried out by the IDF against the Palestinian people. We need to make sure this happens as soon as possible.

The Minister mentioned provisional information and said that some of these goods, for want of a better term, might not have needed an exemption. That implies others did. Could the Minister give any specifics in that regard? Does it mean we have to actually look at our rules on what requires an exemption? I accept the difficulties with dual-use goods, but we need to make sure that our hands are absolutely clean and that we play our part in calling out Israel and the utter disgrace of what it is doing at the moment.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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First, to be clear, I agree with the Deputy. It is totally unacceptable, should any munitions carried through Irish airspace or landing in Irish airports en route to the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East, especially following what we heard earlier about our soldiers being on the front line there, and the citizens of Gaza. Every party, and I think every Deputy, in this House agrees that it is completely unacceptable that there should be any support for that through the provision of weapons munitions through our airspace.

Second, prior to the articles being published by The Ditch, in response to a Private Members' motion in the Seanad, I had indicated we were looking to strengthen the provisions in the Irish law, which date back to the seventies and eighties, to make sure that we could give confidence to the public that we were doing everything we could to avoid that possibility. If I were to summarise what we need to do in this legislative change, and I will look to bring a memo to the Government to this effect, it is giving us the capability of providing greater ability to search, sample and sanction flights that might be carrying such munitions. We must search, on a random basis - as we have been talking about for some time, but we now need to deliver - aircraft that may land in our airports. Sampling is complex and difficult because this all has to be part of an international aviation agreement, but we need to sample overflights manifests to make sure that it is appropriate that an exemption was not sought.

Third, in instances where a carrier may have breached international and Irish law in this regard, we must strengthen our ability to sanction. That is what we intend to do.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Minister will have to come back on this as we are really over time.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Most people will agree that if these provisions do not exist in domestic law, we need to make sure they are there. The Minister raised searching and sampling manifests and the ability to sanction if there are breaches of international law. How quickly can this be done? What can be done? I referred to the initial nine flights that The Ditch had highlighted. One of those carriers has already rerouted its flights, which gives us some answer regarding what they are carrying. Could I get information regarding the Minister's statement that some of these goods may not have needed an exemption? That leads me to believe some did require exemption or some were munitions under existing law. Therefore, what do we intend to do regarding this?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The information provided relates to wide variety of carriers. We have contacted every single one of them. The initial allegations were related primarily to carriers based in Belgium. We have been in contact with the Belgian Government, and I expect we will get the same information that The Ditch has been releasing. That will give us much greater insight, we expect, into whether exactly munitions were carried for which an exemption should have been sought.

We are engaged directly with the Belgian authorities. We expect to have that information shortly. We must do everything correctly under international law.

Returning to the fundamental point I am making, we do need to strengthen our legal provisions. We have sent a message reminding all carriers of the long-held position of the Government under the Chicago convention that no one can transfer munitions either through the air or landing through Irish airports without the express permission of the Irish Government and, in particular, the Minister for Transport. On a routine basis, we say “No” when we receive applications. The vast majority of applications relate to Irish civil aircraft, for which we are responsible, even if they are not flying in Irish airspace. Typically in Scandinavia, there might be a close protection officer and we sanction that. There might be civil aircraft carrying soldiers from the US to Germany or other such locations. Again, they are approved.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am really sorry but we are way over. We are caught within the time.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Okay.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The subject is extremely important but we are caught in the time and the Minister had nearly three minutes.