Ireland has no plans to send aircraft to Israel to extract Irish citizens as fears grow of a full-scale in invasion of Gaza.
Governments around the world, including many from the European Union, have sent either military transports or specially chartered aircraft to fly citizens out of Tel Aviv in Israel.
Sixteen EU countries have so far sent aircraft, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Poland and Lithuania. Many of these countries have also helped bring out citizens from other EU countries. For example, the Polish air force flew out 1,504 Poles and other EU citizens on 27 separate flights.
Ireland’s position is that because there are still commercial aircraft flights out of Tel Aviv, no special repatriation measures are required.
“Ben Gurion, Israel’s main international airport, remains open and commercial flights are available, although with some cancellations and delays. Citizens should stay in contact with their airline,” a Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said.
“As the airport remains open and there are commercial flight options, we are not currently organising repatriation flights. We are keeping the situation under review and co-ordinating closely with EU partners.”
While some flights are continuing in and out of Tel Aviv, many airlines, including Ryanair and Air France, have cancelled services. It is also proving difficult to secure a seat on some routes due to the large numbers of people seeking to leave the country.
It remains possible that Irish citizens may be flown out on flights organised by other EU countries. Under EU rules, members states are obliged to help other countries’ citizens in such circumstances, although they are permitted to give preference to their own nationals.
Under EU rules, member states can claim back the cost of evacuation operations as long as 30 per cent of aircraft seats are used by citizens of other EU countries.
The Department of Foreign Affairs declined to say if it has made use of this provision to extract Irish citizens from Israel.
Meanwhile, efforts are ongoing to bring about 40 Irish citizens out of Gaza in advance of the expected ground invasion by the Israeli Defence Forces.
There was some hope of Irish nationals being able to cross the southern border in Egypt on Monday when it temporarily opened to allow the transport of aid into Gaza. However, ongoing Israeli shelling of the border region at Rafah prevented it from reopening, even for a brief period.
If Irish citizens are able to make it out of Gaza, Ireland will likely co-operate with other EU countries in repatriating them. The issue was discussed during a meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and French president Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Sunday.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs is in constant contact with a number of citizens in Gaza and with all relevant authorities in respect of their cases,” a spokesman said. “This is a complex and extremely fluid situation. It would not be helpful to comment further.”
Ireland’s inability to send aircraft to extract its citizens from dangerous regions has come into focus on several occasions in recent years, including when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021 and Irish soldiers and diplomats had to rely on several other countries for transport.
A similar situation occurred last April when Irish citizens required extraction from Khartoum in Sudan amid serious violence.
The Irish Air Corps has several aircraft capable of repatriating small numbers of citizens but they are not suitable for long-range missions. It is in the process of acquiring three large C295 aircraft, which have longer ranges. The second of these arrived in Casement Aerodrome from its manufacturers in Spain on Monday night.
However, the third aircraft, which will be specifically configured for transport missions, will not arrive until 2025.
“This yet again shows the need for sovereign airlift capabilities,” a security source said of the current situation. “EU member states are in most cases, and rightly so, prioritising their own citizens and most have large numbers of citizens in Israel. We can’t always be relying on someone else to give us a lift. Ireland yet again is contributing nothing to an EU-wide evacuation effort.”
