Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has admitted that two agreements between Ireland and the US on defence matters should have been laid before the Dáil, but has rejected suggestions that they relate to the use of Shannon airport by the US military.
After Labour's Michael D Higgins yesterday drew attention to these hitherto unpublicised agreements, Mr Ahern sent copies of them to Mr Higgins, other Opposition spokesmen and the media.
He said he was making arrangements to have them laid before the Oireachtas immediately.
Mr Higgins wrote to Mr Ahern yesterday asking why these agreements, referred to on the US state department's website, had neither been laid before the Dáil nor put on the published list of treaties signed by the Government with other states.
He suggested that the public would link the non-disclosure of the deals with their concern over Ireland's assistance of the US military in relation to the Iraq war.
Mr Ahern responded yesterday, saying these agreements had "no bearing whatsoever on the State's long-standing policy and practice in regard to the use of Shannon airport".
In a letter to Mr Higgins, he said the two agreements were of a technical nature.
The first agreement details the procedures to be adopted to permit the sharing of classified information between the US and the EU.
"The information in question would be exchanged between the US and the EU in relation to international peacekeeping operations in which both would be involved, such as in Bosnia and Kosovo."
He said the second agreement, on acquisition and cross-servicing, "outlines the procedures that apply to the reciprocal provision of logistical support between the US army and our Defence Forces.
"It enables Irish troops participating in Kfor [ the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo] to avail of US facilities in Kosovo, including the use of the US military hospital there," he added.
However, Mr Higgins, said this agreement could have much broader application.
He pointed to article IV 1 of the agreement which states: "Each party shall make its best efforts, consistent with national priorities, to satisfy requests from the other party under this Agreement for logistical support, supplies and services."
The agreement defines "logistic support, supplies and services" as including food, water, transportation and the use of ports - a word which typically covers airports in this context.
A spokesman for the Minister last night again drew attention to Mr Ahern's assertion that this agreement related only to the operation of Irish troops with US troops in the UN mandated Kosovo mission.
He said the fact that this was the intention of the agreement was made clear by an annex to the agreement, which gave contact details for Irish military personnel in Kosovo.
However, Mr Higgins said there was nothing in the agreement "to suggest that it is limited to peacekeeping".
"If the Minister wants to suggest it is limited to the operation of Kfor, will he publish the requests that have been received under it?" he asked.
Mr Ahern said yesterday that his department "accepts that the agreements, in keeping with practice, should have been laid before Dáil Éireann."
His spokesman said last night that Mr Ahern has now ordered a trawl of departmental records "to ensure there is no other treaty or arrangement put in place in the last number of years that has not been put before the Houses of the Oireachtas."