Mick Wallace told the Dáil that lethal explosives were flown through Shannon. But the documents he relied on say they were REFUSED entry
MICK Wallace has claimed in the Dáil that deadly cluster bombs were shipped through Shannon Airport to be used for ‘killing innocent people’ in Yemen.
The independent TD even gave two specific dates – November 15 and November 16, 2014 – in which he insisted the lethal weaponry was brought through Ireland.
However, official documents, seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday, make it clear the Government refused two requests for the explosives to be allowed enter Irish airspace, let alone land in Shannon.
Mr Wallace told the Dáil last December: ‘In November 2014, two planes passed through Shannon Airport coming from Delaware. They were carrying class one liquid fuel explosives and rockets and class one explosives and rockets with bursting charges.
‘Why in God’s name are we allowing cluster bombs go through our airspace to Saudi Arabia? The US is backing the Saudi mission in Yemen, a country in which there is an absolute humanitarian disaster. Cluster bombs going through Ireland are killing innocent people on a daily basis.’ In response, Defence Minister Paul Kehoe told him he was not aware of cluster bombs being on board any of the aircraft allowed pass through Shannon.
Mr Wallace insisted that he was ‘not making it up’ and the information had come through a Freedom of Information request, which was subsequently posted online.
On a separate occasion in the Dáil, Mr Wallace specified the two dates – November 15 and November 16, 2014 – when cluster bombs had ‘passed through Shannon’. However, the claims appear to be based on an FoI request made by the campaign group Shannonwatch, in which details of hundreds of military overflights and landings are made available.
Shannonwatch later posted a version of the document to their own website.
However, both the original request and the Shannonwatch document are clear that both of the flights to which Mr Wallace was referring were refused permission to enter Irish airspace.
On November 15, 2014, a request was received from Atlas Air to fly a plane over Ireland from Delaware to Ta’if in Saudi Arabia.
It was carrying class one explosives and rockets. The following day, a request was received from the same airline for another plane to fly the same journey, this time carrying class one explosives and rockets with bursting charges.
Both applications were refused, according to the FoI documents.
This has been confirmed by the Department of Transport, which said: ‘We can confirm that both these applications were refused.’
Despite repeated requests for comment, Mr Wallace has not responded to questions asking him to clarify his remarks.
He is not the only Oireachtas member to refer to flights having carried cluster bombs through or over Ireland.
Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan also made the claim, saying: ‘We helped bring cluster bombs – imagine that – through Shannon Airport to Saudi Arabia in November 2014.’ He has since admitted he was incorrect in his interpretation.
Independent TD Clare Daly also made reference, albeit less directly, to the manufacture of cluster bombs and their passage through Ireland, on the Vincent Browne show last year.
She said: ‘Some of the information sought and received by Shannonwatch... shows the amount of permits sought for munitions to be transported, including materials that could go to form cluster bombs.’
Ms Daly did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Bombs killing innocent people on a daily basis’ Senator admitted he made incorrect claim