Plans to develop a disused airfield as part of the Government's affordable housing initiative could jeopardise essential training and firing exercises by the Defence Forces.
Gormanston airfield, in Co Meath, is located within the exclusion zone of the only firing range for ground-to-air and air-to-ground missiles in the country.
It is the only suitable site available to the Army and Air Corps at present for air-defence missile firing and air-to-ground firing.
The Defence Forces are liaising with the Department of Defence regarding the impact of any development at Gormanston.
The airfield is one of a number of State-owned properties included in Government plans to provide 10,000 affordable homes at 15 sites across the country, announced in 2003.
Three years on, no development has taken place on the majority of State-owned sites announced by the Government.
The Gormanston site was to have provided 350 houses, but this plan was dropped because of the costs of providing proper roads and sewerage for the site. It has now been rezoned for light industrial use and is being considered for a land swap with developers.
The site has yet to be transferred from the Department of Defence however, and tenders for the land swap have yet to be issued. The Irish Times has learned that a large development on the disused airfield, adjacent to Gormanston army base, could jeopardise current firing and training activity there.
The training is seen as essential to the protection of current Defence Forces capabilities.
A large exclusion zone is needed, and the firing range needs to be adjacent to the sea because of the nature of the weapons being fired. The Glen of Imaal in Co Wicklow is not considered suitable for either, and it is understood that the Defence Forces have examined the option of having the training carried out abroad.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for the Environment Dick Roche are to launch a new booklet on affordable housing later today, as part of the Government's plans to increase affordable housing in the greater Dublin area.