Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said “quite a number” of flights have violated Irish sovereign air space as he indicated the Government may consider a ban on companies found to be in breach of travel rules.
On Monday, The Irish Times reported that nine flights alleged to have carried military weapons destined for Israel passed through Irish sovereign air space since the war in Gaza began. The information came on foot of a Government investigation.
The Department of Transport launched the inquiry earlier this month following a series of reports on an online news site, outlining a number of flights alleged to have carried various types of explosives, ammunition and military goods destined for the Israel Defence Forces or Israeli arms companies since October 2023.
Under Irish law, airlines carrying “munitions of war” must apply for permission from the Minister for Transport before bringing the goods through Irish sovereign air space. The department has previously confirmed that no licences for the transport of such goods to Israel were sought in 2023 or to date in 2024.
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Speaking at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Mr Martin said there must be consequences for companies that flout Irish laws.
“In terms of planes flying in Irish air space, sovereign air space, Government never received any requests. The Department of Transport has been engaging the relevant authorities in respect of this and the particular company. And we facilitated in terms of dialogue with the Belgian government.
“Clearly now there have been quite a number of flights that have been in violation of our sovereign air space. It now remains for Government, as we go forward, to get further clarifications and verification of the cargo on those planes to take whatever actions. I think the basic action is the possibility of saying to those companies that you may not fly through Irish aerospace, if you violate the basic rules that govern this.”
Asked if he was in favour of such a ban, he replied: “That’s about what we can do … But in the multilateral world, we expect companies to abide by the basic rules. And the basic rules here are, if you wish to bring a cargo through our sovereign air space, and then that gets considered by the Department of Transport, that’s the norm.
“That’s what happens, and we expect airlines to comply with that. And if they don’t there has to be consequences, but that’s a matter of the Government which will we consider once we get a final report from the department.”
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