Official Government figures show no increase in landings or overflights by foreign military aircraft in recent months despite repeated anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
Figures for the final three months of 2002 show the number of overflights and landings requested by other states was actually lower than the average for the year. This runs contrary to reports from anti-war campaigners at Shannon Airport of a substantial increase in military traffic.
While these reports have suggested a particular escalation in such traffic this month, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said yesterday preliminary official figures show no such increase.
Figures for January will be available at the end of the month.
Landings of foreign military aircraft officially requested by other states averaged 46 per month in 2002. However, in October there were 41, in November just 28, and in December 30.
Requested overflights averaged 205 a month. There were 246 in October, 173 in November, and 196 in December.
The spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday they never gave a breakdown of which states the various planes came from "for security reasons". However, a large majority of them were from the United States.
The numbers increased last year over 2001. While there were 553 landings last year, there were 489 in 2001. There were 2,460 overflights in 2002, and 1,766 in 2001. A large proportion of these landings and overflights are of US planes bringing supplies or personnel to and from US bases in Europe.
While observers have reported a substantial increase in the number of troops passing through Shannon Airport, most of these are believed to have been travelling on civilian aircraft, and therefore do not have to submit a request for permission to land.
They must seek clearance from the Department of Transport, however, if they are carrying weapons, munitions or other dangerous substances. This requirement applies even if they are carrying troops' personal weapons in the cargo hold, according to a spokesman for the Department of Transport.
Last year, 30 requests were made and granted to civilian aircraft to overfly Ireland carrying munitions or other dangerous substances. Just one request was made and granted for the landing of such a plane, according to the spokesman.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said on Monday the US was not using Shannon Airport for the transit of "large quantities" of arms to the Gulf.
A department spokesman said yesterday that Mr Cowen had used this phrase as he was aware that US flights which landed did occasionally carry some weapons in their cargo holds.
Meanwhile the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee has invited the US and British ambassadors to attend one of its meetings to discuss Iraq.
Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, who proposed the invitations, said that Oireachtas members should "forcefully put the case that any action concerning Iraq, if this arises, must be fully subject to prior UN approval. Furthermore, if Ireland were asked to facilitate military action against Iraq, this should only happen with prior Dáil approval."
He said the ambassadors should be told that unilateral action against Iraq "by one state, supported by another, is not acceptable".
"Only UN-sanctioned, multilateral action can be considered, and only then, in the case of Ireland, when and if the Dáil has given prior consent. This is the procedure that was followed in the case of the Gulf war. We should leave both ambassadors in no doubt about our views."