More than €7m spent on security measures at Shannon airport

The Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has confirmed that over €7 million has been spent on preventing further incursions by anti-war activists at Shannon airport over the past two years.

Mr Lenihan confirmed that €4.69 million was spent on policing arrangements at Shannon last year, and to the end of November this year, the costs for 2007 are put at €3.1 million.

With over one million US troops going through Shannon to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, Mr Lenihan said "the continuance of the ongoing policing arrangements at Shannon airport are considered essential for the integrity of the airport itself, and of both its employees and clients.

"Accordingly, I remain satisfied that Garda policing arrangements at Shannon airport continue to be both necessary and appropriate." He said the costs were inclusive of policing the perimeter of the airport "and cannot be differentiated either according to the specific constituents of policing, or according to the nature of the threat posed, as policing plans are put in place only following a comprehensive rather than piecemeal consideration of threat".

However, the most recent peace activist to be arrested at Shannon airport Ed Horgan said yesterday that the policing arrangements at Shannon are "grossly inadequate and inappropriate".

Mr Horgan was arrested last month by gardaí at the airport after he called on them to search a plane that he suspected was involved in the American government's rendition programme.

Mr Horgan was arrested for refusing to leave the airport terminal. He said yesterday: "It is inappropriate that the policing arrangements at Shannon are directed at the likes of myself who always uphold and abide by the law." Security arrangements he said were "grossly inadequate".

"It is open for any person with a malicious intent to either walk into the terminal or get through the perimeter fence to cause mayhem. Frequently, the checkpoint at the entrance to the airport is unmanned."

Cllr Brian Meaney (Green Party) said: "The antics of the anti-war movement through incursions into the airfield have ensured that funding that could support a programme of searching suspected rendition flights at Shannon has been diverted elsewhere."

Recent figures show that between March 2003 and September 2007, 1,059,382 US military personnel have passed through Shannon on 8,698 flights. It is estimated that the Shannon Airport Authority last year made a profit of €7.4 million on troop traffic, and this is on top of the €9 million secured in 2005.