Overflights of foreign military aircraft in the State increased by 40 per cent last year, according to new figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Landings of such aircraft at Shannon and other airports in the State increased by 13 per cent to 553.
The news comes as the Government faces fresh criticism for its policy of allowing US military aircraft to refuel at Shannon ahead of onward flights to Kuwait and other countries which are facilitating a military build-up against Iraq.
The Labour Party's spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, accused the Government of breaching the 1954 Defence Act by allowing the landings. He said up to 1,500 uniformed troops have travelled through Shannon on eight flights in the past 24 hours in direct contravention of Section 317 of the Act, which stated: "No person shall, save with the consent in writing of a Minister of State, enter or land in the State while wearing any foreign uniform."
Mr Higgins, who plans to travel to Iraq before the end of the month with a delegation from the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Government had "lied again and again" on its position regarding the stopovers.
"They are breaking their own legislation. They are ignoring their Constitution and they are maintaining an outrageous silence on whether this is in breach of international law. What, I ask, will the Government do if these troops take part in a pre-emptive strike against Iraq without a UN resolution? Where then will our stated policy of neutrality be?"
A spokesman for the Department said, however, that "the traditional policy of neutrality remains unchanged" despite the stop-overs.
Rejecting the claim that the landings were illegal, he said the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952, allowed the Department to give permission to other countries to overfly or land in the State. He said the Department's understanding was the Defence Act prohibited foreign troops from being "at large", while it regarded those arriving at Shannon as being "in transit".
The spokesman added that the Department required confirmation that each landing was unarmed - containing neither explosives nor ammunition - and that it did not form part of a military exercise or operation. He said no specific checks were made to ensure these conditions were complied with. Rather, "we hold our partners in good faith".
The Department, meanwhile, revealed that there was a total of 2,460 foreign military overflights in the State last year, an increase of 694 on 2001. It was unable to give a breakdown of which countries were involved in the overflights and landings, however, as this required the consent of the relevant air forces.
Meanwhile, the Irish Anti-War Movement is planning to demonstrate outside the offices of the Department of Transport today over what it describes as the "harassment" of peace campaigners who have set up camp at the entrance to Shannon Airport.
