Taxpayer foots bill for Shannon US military services

Irish taxpayers have subsidised services provided to US military planes in Shannon to the tune of more than €4m, it emerged today.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen asked the Dáil Transport Committee for an extra €1.5m to cover costs as he admitted the state had paid the Irish Aviation Authority €4.6m for its services this year.

The bulk of this money has been ploughed into services provided to the record number of US military planes passing through Shannon en route to Iraq.

Asked by Fine Gael transport spokesperson Olivia Mitchell whether this represented Ireland’s contribution to the war effort, Mr Cullen laughed and admitted she was not far off the mark.

The Irish Aviation Authority does not charge for many of the services provided to US military planes but bills the Government for certain costs.

Mr Cullen said: “There are international agreements in place where charges are not levied against certain types of activities, and this is one of them at Shannon.”

Ms Mitchell said €3m had been set aside in last year’s budget to pay the Aviation Authority for flyover aircraft services.

“It just belies any assertion that we are not contributing to the war in Iraq. Whether you agree with it or not I think you should be open and admit that in fact the Irish taxpayer is making subsidies to it,” she said.

She said it had been known the services were given for free but the actual extent of the cost had not been revealed until today.

By the end of this year, it is expected that just under 350,000 US troops will have passed through Shannon in the past three years.

Latest figures suggest a steady increase with the numbers for 2004 having breached the 100,000 barrier some two months ago.