LAST UPDATE | 30 Aug
IRELAND RARELY ALLOWS munitions to enter its airspace and is currently engaging with the airline accused of flying over Ireland while transporting weaponry to Israel, transport minister Eamon Ryan has said.
News platform The Ditch first reported on the allegations last week and since, the Taoiseach, members of his Cabinet and the Department of Transport have been reviewing the matter.
The Journal has independently determined through sources and open source flight information services that several such flights passed close to Ireland, with some believed to have entered Irish airspace since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza on 7 October.
Earlier, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the Irish Government should summon the Israeli ambassador if it is found that Ireland’s airspace is indeed being unlawfully used to transport munitions into the Middle East.
When asked if he would expel the country’s ambassador, O’Gorman said that “is not the way forward”. He added:
“I’ve always been of the view that expulsion isn’t the way forward … whether it’s Israel, whether it’ Russia, you need that ambassadorial link so you can deliver very clear messages to governments that you may disagree very strongly with.”
It is the most pointed criticism by one of the coalition leaders since the early reports. The minister for Children and Integration said “strong action” would be required from Ireland if the Government is satisfied such flyovers took place.
Speaking for the first time since the reports last week, Ryan said that Ireland rarely allows munitions to be transported Ireland’s airspace when airlines request to do so and has said the airline in question did not submit an application for consent.
Subsequent reporting has found that there were indeed mentions listed on the payloads of a number of flights which flew over Ireland.
Earlier, Minister O’Gorman also told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the government was waiting for the Department of Transport to complete its examination of the “very strong anecdotal evidence” that the overflights took place.
Ryan said this afternoon that the Government is also currently engaging with the plane operators and seeking documentation of the payload and that he has met with the Taoiseach about the matter.
“Our department’s engaging with the airline involved to try and get details of what may have been on the payload. We’re already reviewing the various processes we have to assess fights, be they laundering or be they overfights.”
Ryan said that the conflict in the Middle East is a “crisis situation” and added that, had the airline sought permission, the Government wouldn’t have given consent for the flights to take place.
Asked what can the State do in situations where consent is not sought and planes transport munitions through Ireland anyway, the Minister said that it would be a breach of international law.
“It all comes under the Chicago Convention – which is international law. We’re operating within international systems,” he said, adding that the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Transport and the Office of the Attorney General are reviewing how Ireland can strengthen the current processes.
Minister Ryan added that he would support calls made by his Cabinet colleagues for the EU to review its relationship with Israel.
“We’ve, very strongly, taken a role in the European Union that we do have to review EU-Israeli arrangements,” he said. “Because, what’s going on at the moment is intolerable.”
Responding to a question by The Journal earlier this week, Taoiseach Simon Harris said that “no consent” had been sought for the overflights.
A statement from the Department of Transport has also confirmed “the carriage of munitions of war” is prohibited unless an exemption exists.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he has directed his staff to ban Israeli companies from being awarded and bidding Irish defence or military contracts. Speaking in Brussels, Martin also voiced support for further EU sanctions on Israel.
He added that Ireland was taking the stance in response to recent International Criminal Court rulings and International Court of Justice opinions which have said Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank has breached international law.
With reporting by Niall O’Connor
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