This article is from page 3 of the 2006-08-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE Irish Government has said that it will not allow any US flights carrying weapons or munitions for use in the Israeli/Lebanese conflict to land at Shannon Airport.
A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has confirmed that “in light of the present conflict between Israel and Lebanon, any request to transport weapons through Shannon for use in that conflict will be refused. Those flights will not be allowed land in Ireland.”
The department has also dismissed suggestions that it has already refused permission for flights to land at the mid west airport.
“The department has received no request from the US authorities to transport munitions bound for Israel through Shannon and has therefore not refused any flight permission to land here.”
It was reported at the weekend that US charter airlines, transporting tonnes of military munitions to Israel, had been refused permission to use Shannon as a technical stopover on their way to the Middle East and had instead landed at Prestwick in Scotland. It had been claimed that since the conflict in the Lebanon began almost three weeks ago, the Irish Government had refused requests by the US military to transport consignments of 600lb “bunker buster” bombs through Shannon Airport.
The Department of Transport has confirmed, however, that it granted permission for a flight carrying troops and munitions to Israel to land here on May 11th last, but the spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, “That has no bearing on this policy, it was long before the conflict between Lebanon and Israel began.”
It has also emerged that Prestwick Airport is in negotiations with charter companies that transport troops for the US government to secure some of the lucrative business Shannon Airport has enjoyed in recent years.
Prestwick is understood to be ready to employ a further 80 staff if it manages to strike a deal for the extra troop carrier business. It is known that at least one US carrier is reviewing its operations at Shannon.
It was reported last month that North American Airlines, a sister company of World Airways which pulled out of Shannon in favour of a better financial deal in Leipzig on July 1st last, is also looking at alternatives to Shannon.
According to a company spokesman, “ No decision has been made regarding changes for North American but we have the same economic concerns as World Airways.”