A secret arrangement dating back to the Cold War era allowing the UK to police Ireland’s airspace is “fully consistent with Irish military neutrality”, Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin has said.
The Irish Times on Monday reported details of the agreement, which allows RAF aircraft to intercept hostile aircraft in Irish airspace in the knowledge that the Defence Forces has almost no ability to monitor or intercept long-range strategic bombers.
Asked about the disclosures in The Irish Times, Mr Martin said: “We don’t comment on national security issues and that remains the case.” But, he said, “anything we do is fully consistent with Irish sovereign decision making and fully consistent with Irish military neutrality.”
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Asked if the agreement, which was drafted in the early 1950s to combat a threat from the Soviet Union and has been renewed and updated since then, could be seen as anti-democratic or contrary to the spirt of the “triple lock” in that it was not open to scrutiny by Dáil Éireann, Mr Martin disagreed, stressing again it was fully in line with Ireland’s sovereign decision making.
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“Anything we do in the realm of national security is consistent with Irish sovereign decision making and with our policy of military neutrality which relates to decision that have to be taken either through the Oireachtas or by government,” he said.
The “triple lock” refers to the requirement that Irish military interventions have a UN Security Council or General Assembly resolution; a decision of Government and a Dáil resolution.
Mr Martin said the Department of Foreign Affairs had set out Ireland’s position in such matters in an affidavit it had submitted to the High Court in a case brought against the Government by Senator Gerard Craughwell, who says the agreement to allow RAF to enter Irish airspace in unconstitutional.
Mr Craughwell, an independent member of Seanad Éireann claims the agreement between Ireland and Britain allowing the RAF to fly into Irish airspace and “intercept and interdict” aircraft that pose a threat is unlawful and unconstitutional without approval by the Irish people in a referendum.
Speaking in Cork on Monday, Mr Martin also played down the presence of Russian military ships off the Irish coast saying he did not believe they posed a threat to Irish security while stressing that Government would continue to monitor their presence in Irish waters.
Mr Martin said the Government was aware of the presence of the Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich and the tanker Kama and two other vessels after they entered Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone last week, and the Dept of Defence was continuing to monitor their presence.
“This is ongoing in terms of over the years and in more recent times, various vessels and ships from Russia can enter into Irish Exclusive Economic Zone – it’s carefully monitored by Ireland and indeed by others,” said Mr Martin.
“That’s an ongoing scenario where people tracking what’s happening within international waters and indeed inside Ireland Exclusive Economic Zone which is quite large – I didn’t see it [the Russian presence] as a threat, but it is something that we are conscious of, and we keep a very close eye on.”
Mr Martin was in Cork visiting Togher Girls National School to celebrate 50 years of Irish membership of the European Union.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Martin also took issue with comments from the Russian embassy regarding a tribute he paid to an Irish man killed fight with Ukrainian forces.
Mr Martin had described Finbar Cafferkey from Achill Island in Co Mayo as “a man of clear principles” after learning that he had been killed while fighting with Ukrainian military against invading Russian forces but the comments sparked an angry response from the Russia embassy.
The Russian embassy said it did not know “if Mr Martin’s remarks signify support for the Irish to take part in combat in Ukraine, but we do know that if that is the case, then Ireland would be the direct participant of the conflict with all the ensuing consequences”.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Martin said: “My own perspective on that [Mr Cafferkey’s death] at the time was that there was a family in mourning, a family grieving the loss of their son and I didn’t want to say anything at that time that would cause any trauma for the family – it’s terrible for them.
“And I think the Russian ambassador, in my view, should not have commented and I think as we have said, his comments were a distortion and were unacceptable and in my view were not reflective of my position or the country’s position more generally.”
