Military overflights cost the taxpayer nearly €3.7 million last year, it was revealed today.
Labour Party transport spokesperson Roisín Shortall said the policy of allowing military aircraft use Irish airspace for free should be reviewed in light of the figures.
Roisín Shortall
She revealed statistics, obtained through a parliamentary question, showed military overflights increasing considerably since the US officially declared an end to the war in Iraq in May 2003.
The cost for overflights in that year was €2.15 million, but in 2004 the figure had risen to €3.7 million. The figure is nearly €1 million more than 2001 and 2002 combined - the years in which the US campaign in Afghanistan was waged.
The figures also show that 110,766 troops passed through Shannon Airport in the first quarter of this year compared to 47,149 in the same period last year.
A breakdown of the nationality of the aircraft was not made available, but Ms Shortall said: "It is almost certain that the overwhelming majority of these aircraft were US military flights."
Overflights in Irish airspace are charged for by the Irish Aviation Authority, but under the Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the safety of Air Navigation) agreement Ireland does not charge military aircraft. However, the Department of Transport reimburses the IAA for the charges involved.
"Ireland is clearly a significant loser here as very few Irish military flights over-fly other countries, but our position on the edge of Europe means that many foreign military flights go through Irish controlled airspace," Ms Shortall said
She noted that other neutral counties such as Austria, Finland and Switzerland do not grant exempted status to US military flights.
"Surely it is time for Ireland to consider adopting a similar policy. It is bad enough that we should be allowing US military flights to use or airspace and to land at Shannon, but it is surely totally unacceptable that the Irish taxpayer should be having to foot the bill for these flights," the Labour deputy said.