US military plane ‘did land at Shannon’

A US military plane which the Government denied on four occasions was at Shannon in September and October has been found to have visited the airport on those dates.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan had told Dublin North United Left Deputy Clare Daly on four occasions, in reply to parliamentary questions, that a specific US Hercules C130 she had inquired about was not at Shannon when she claimed it had been.

The minister has now apologised to Ms Daly, while Shannon Airport has apologised to him, following what he has described as an “administrative error”.

The KC130J Hercules, with the registration 168073, is an aerial refuelling aircraft attached to the US Marine Corps Marine Aerial Refueller Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234).

The plane arrived in Shannon on September 30 and departed the following day.

The minister also said: “Requests are routinely received by my department seeking permission for C130 aircraft to land at Shannon airport. Landings were authorised for the timeframe referred to by the deputy, but as previously stated none of these aircraft bore the registration numbers specified.”

This week however, Mr Flanagan corrected his previous statements about the specific aircraft

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