Ireland must join Spain and Switzerland and close its airspace to US military aircraft en route to fulfil military objectives in the Middle East, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.
Senator Stephenson said:
“There were almost 250 more US military flights over Ireland since last summer than reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which officials put down to administrative errors.
“How can we be confident that the Government knows that there is nothing of concern in the military planes that pass overhead when they can’t even accurately count them?
“We are consistently told by the Government that there are no issues with the US warplanes that fly through Irish airspace or through Shannon Airport. These assurances appear to be based on nothing more than blind trust in a country which launched an illegal war in Iran and detonated the world economy.
“Spain and Switzerland closed their airspace to US aircrafts involved in the conflict in the Middle East. It’s shameful that Ireland will not commit to the same, considering there was a 56% increase in US warplanes over Ireland during the month in which it launched hundreds of airstrikes on Iran.
“We know that US military transport aircraft, troop carriers and surveillance aircraft have all flown over Ireland to wage an illegal war in the Middle East. It is time we do something about our complicity in that crime.”
April 20th, 2026