Thomas Pringle TD
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Pringle supports call on Government to ban use of Shannon Airport for military transport

Pringle supports call on Government to ban use of Shannon Airport for military transport

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, has supported a call to ban US military and US military-contracted aircraft from landing at Shannon Airport, as well as other actions in support of the people of Palestine.

Addressing the Dáil today to support a People Before Profit motion re Palestine, Deputy Pringle said: “I wholeheartedly support its calls for Israel to immediately cease all settlement activity and to restore food, water, electricity, and medical supplies, and to remove all other forms of arbitrary restrictions of movement of people that result in collective punishment.

“I particularly support the motion’s calls to close Shannon Airport to the US military by banning US military and US military-contracted aircraft from landing at the airport. In terms of meaningful actions that Ireland can take to support the people of Palestine, this is by far the most important. 

“While munitions flights are officially banned in Irish airspace, it is at the Minister’s discretion to grant exemptions to this ban. Over 1,000 such exemptions have been granted this year alone. 

“This is incredibly concerning given that there is evidence that the US is supplying weapons to Israel through third countries. Although the Government has offered assurances that none of these flights have been destined for Israel this year, the Department’s answer to a PQ (parliamentary question) I recently submitted has shown that these flights are not being vetted properly and no inspections are being carried out. So if you’re not looking, how can you actually know what’s going on?

“As you may know, nearly 70 TDs and senators have co-signed a letter from the CEG Senators to Minister Eamon Ryan calling for an immediate and indefinite ban on munitions flights where weapons are destined for Israel.

“With over 12,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, it is high time that Ireland took a meaningful stand against America’s facilitation of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and I think an important step on that would be banning the use of Shannon for military transport,” he said.