The Government has distanced itself from plans proposed last year to start inspecting Israel-bound aircraft that may be carrying weapons of war.
Last November, then minister for transport Eamon Ryan brought proposals to cabinet to allow authorities to search aircraft that may be carrying military goods and to sanction airlines found to be in breach.
The plan was aimed at deterring carriers from transporting weapons and munitions from the US to Israel for use in the war in Gaza. It followed reports, published by the Ditch, of large numbers of commercial flights carrying weapons through Irish airspace to the Israeli military over the previous year, seemingly in breach of Irish law.
The cabinet meeting took place three weeks before the general election, which saw Mr Ryan step down from politics and most of his Green Party colleagues lose their seats.
In response to queries on the implementation of the new inspection regime, a Department of Transport spokesman said Mr Ryan had “outlined his views to cabinet colleagues” about “strengthening the State’s ability to detect and sanction breaches of Irish law relating to the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft”.
He said “the current Government has not considered this matter to date” and declined to give any timeline for the implementation of any new regime.
A Government source said the matter will most likely be considered “completely afresh”. Another source said the implementation of any new regime is considered less urgent given the agreement of an ongoing but fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January.
Irish officials are also conscious of the reaction of the Trump administration to any efforts to inspect Israel-bound flights originating in the United States.
Legislation aimed at introducing an inspection regime was mentioned in a briefing document prepared for incoming Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien in January.
It mentions a series of articles published on the Ditch website detailing multiple flights that passed through Irish airspace carrying munitions to Israel without Government permission
“Since the publication of the first reports, the department has been examining the allegations and engaging with air operators as required,” it said. However, the following section in the briefing was entirely redacted.
The department previously confirmed nine such flights had travelled through Irish airspace.
Mr Ryan first committed to addressing the issue last May after Senator Alice Mary Higgins proposed a bill to restrict the transit of weapons of war to Israel and provide for an inspection system. He asked for a six-month pause to allow officials devise workable legislation.
Officials were of the view that the existing legislation, which dates from the 1970s, is out of date given world events and expansion of the air cargo business.
Under Mr Ryan’s proposals, the new regime would allow Irish officials to carry out random physical searches of aircraft landing in Ireland to ensure they are not carrying unauthorised weapons.
It would also allow officials to randomly sample the cargo manifests of aircraft flying over Ireland to ensure they are not carrying munitions.
Lastly, severe sanctions would be introduced for airlines found to be in breach of Irish legislation on the transit of weapons. The existing legislation makes it an offence to transport weapons through Ireland without permission but is unclear about how this should be enforced.
