Social Democrats senator Patricia Stephenson has called on the EU\u2019s anti-fraud watchdog to launch an investigation into the Irish government\u2019s failure to inspect flights into Shannon that may be facilitating Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Senator Stephenson, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is credible evidence that military contractors and private aircraft carrying dual-use goods \u2013 good that can be used in weapons systems \u2013 are moving through Irish airspace and Irish territory en route to Israel. These flights are not secret \u2013 they are documented. And yet this government is choosing not to inspect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder EU customs law, Ireland is required to carry out risk-based inspections. That means prioritising flights operated by arms brokers or those on known weapons trade routes. That\u2019s what the law says \u2013 and right now, Ireland isn\u2019t following it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about a moral failure \u2013 we\u2019re talking about a breach of our EU obligations, a potential tax fraud, and a customs violation. If the Irish government won\u2019t act to stop genocide, maybe it will act to avoid a tax investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why I, along with my colleague Gary Gannon, have written to OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, requesting an investigation into Ireland\u2019s failure to inspect these high-risk flights. We\u2019ve also written to the Attorney General, asking whether this policy is consistent with Ireland\u2019s legal duties under both EU law and the Genocide Convention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government needs to be honest. If Ireland is letting weapons flow through Shannon on their way to a genocide, then we\u2019re not neutral – we\u2019re complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n
June 17, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats senator Patricia Stephenson has called on the EU\u2019s anti-fraud watchdog to launch an investigation into the Irish government\u2019s failure to inspect flights into Shannon that may be facilitating Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza. Senator Stephenson, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said: \u201cThere is credible evidence that military contractors and private […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,529,718,641,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-gaza","category-israel","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n