US happy to continue airport use

NO evidence exists to link the suspension of flights carrying US troops through Shannon with the embarrassing security breaches at the airport, the Taoiseach said yesterday.

The US military is happy to continue to use Shannon Mr Ahern said, despite the bypassing of the airport by a number of flights carrying thousand of troops.

Denying that the suspension of World Airways flights transporting US troops via Shannon is related to security breaches, Mr Ahern said a US Army commander told him the Americans had no problem with using the airport.

Responding to opposition questions about the impact on the economy on the developments and calls for the resignation of the Ministers for Defence and Transport over the affair, Mr Ahern insisted the USA was happy with arrangements in place at Shannon.

“I do not have evidence that was linked to the security issue. They informed Aer Rianta that their next 17 flights would move to other locations for a period.

“They did not link it to a security situation. I know this. The US Chief of Command for Europe, General Wald, yesterday said he was quite happy to continue to use Shannon,” Mr Ahern said.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Defence Minister Michael Smith should resign over what he described as the mishandling of security at Shannon.

Aer Rianta said World Airways gave no specific reason for diverting 17 flights to Frankfurt.

Fianna Fáil accused the Green Party and Sinn Féin of damaging relations with the US by failing to condemn the Shannon attacks.

Deputy Government chief whip Billy Kelleher said the attacks resulted in a loss of income for Shannon.

“Not content with leaving the taxpayer with a bill of hundreds of thousands of euro these attacks are now leading to a serious loss of income for the airport and the entire Shannon region,” the Cork North-Central TD said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen maintained yesterday that Ireland was never completely neutral.

Responding to criticism of the Government’s permission to the US military to use Shannon, Mr Cowen said it is impossible to be politically neutral.

His comments were the third time in recent days where a government minister has interpreted Ireland’s neutrality.

At the weekend, Tánaiste Mary Harney said the country cannot be neutral any more and earlier this week Defence Minister Michael Smith said it was impossible to be neutral.