Shannon Airport and military flights
Senator Gavan welcomed the cross-party Syria motion, then used the opportunity to again raise concerns about aircraft and activity at Shannon Airport.
I pay tribute to Senator Ivana Bacik for tabling her motion, to which we have all signed up, on the conflict in Syria. It shows what this Chamber is capable of and the fact that we could all negotiate successfully to agree on such an important issue shows that the House can at times be a very effective unified force for doing the right thing. I will, therefore, bring up the issue of Shannon Airport again. I am afraid that it is the elephant in the room because we know what is going on there. I can read the House reports from this week alone on the aircraft, including commercial aircraft, that have come and gone. We know that they were carrying troops and ammunitions. We know that this week troops had to stay over in County Clare because there was a problem with an aeroplane. I do not make this point in a party-political manner; I just want us to be honest with ourselves. How can we, on the one hand, rightly demand peace in Syria, while, on the other, turn a blind eye to the use of the civilian airport at Shannon to carry troops, munitions and weapons to the wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq? In all honesty how can the excellent motion on Syria have real standing when the world can see that we are turning a blind eye to what is continuing to happen at Shannon Airport? I am delighted to hear Senator Mark Daly raise the issue of neutrality, but I have not heard him say anything about Shannon Airport. There was a time when Niall Andrews and other good people such as Dan Breen in Fianna Fáil were prepared to stand up for our neutrality, not just talk about it. However, there is now gross hypocrisy - they are the only words I can use - in this regard because we all know what is going on at Shannon and that we are turning a blind eye to the transport through it of military troops, weaponry and munitions that were used to blow up women and children in Yemen last Saturday and it continues to happen. I, therefore, ask the Leader whether we could have another look at this issue. I ask that we be very serious about this and not decide that we are only in favour of peace when it suits us.