This article by Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch was published in The Clare Champion in January 2026.

In his article in the Clare Champion on 14 January, ‘Shannon Airport and Ireland’s Foreign Policy Debate’ Prof. Donnacha O’Beacháin asks an important question. How compatible is facilitating US military operations through Shannon Airport with claiming a form of neutrality grounded in international law? The answer is that international law on neutrality is clearly defined in The Hague Convention V on Neutrality 1907, article 2 of which states that: “Belligerents are forbidden to move troops or convoys of either munitions of war or supplies across the territory of a neutral Power.” Successive Irish Taoisigh and ministers for foreign affairs are being disingenuous when they use such ‘administrative caveats’ to claim that Ireland is militarily neutral despite allowing over three million armed US soldiers to transit through Shannon airport.

The US has been a belligerent state in a series of wars that have cost millions of lives since the end of the Cold War. Yet Irish neutrality has had the support of majority of Irish citizens since the late 1930s. After we joined the United Nations, our neutrality took on a much more active role, including UN peacekeeping and promoting global justice.

Morality is one of the important issues raised by Prof. O’Beacháin. He says that Irish neutrality “has historically been justified as an active commitment to the UN Charter…”. Now our Irish Government is about to abandon the Triple Lock, thereby undermining the UN Charter, and joining so-called coalitions of the willing. The issue of morality has become of critical importance. US President Trump’s threats to use force against Greenland would, if implemented, involve breaches of international laws. Genocide is now being perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 7 October 2023. This raises issues of basic morality and crimes against humanity. Shannon airport is being used by the US military to help perpetrate this genocide. No amount of realist national interests justifies Ireland being complicit in genocide and in breach of Article 3 of the Genocide Convention. Prof. O’Beacháin’s article is an important contribution to the debate on Irish neutrality and the role of Shannon airport in that debate.

Also, on 14^th January a report on related matters by Ken Foxe appeared on RTE news. The report referred to a letter by Conal Henry the chair of Shannon Airport to Minister Darragh O'Brien last May. It said Mr Henry warned the Minister for Transport that protests and airside incursions at the airport were a grave risk and a threat to the international reputation of the State.

The real threat to the international reputation of the State does not arise due to the protests but to the breaches of international and humanitarian laws due to US military use of Shannon airport. This also creates a significant threat to the international and national reputation of Shannon airport. In his letter Mr Henry said he recognised and respected the right of protest and said that airfield incidents needed to be addressed urgently. Yes, it is vital that the right of protest as enshrined under Article 40 of the Constitution must be respected. The protests and incursions against US military use of Shannon airport did not begin on 7 October 2023. They began over there decades ago in 1991and intensified with the unlawful US-led wars of aggression in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere and more recently against Iran and Venezuela, and US support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Millions of people, especially children, have been killed due to these wars, yet no one has been held to account for Irish government complicity in these wars of aggression. Since 1991 over sixty prosecutions have been taken against non-violent peace activists, who held a well-founded belief that their actions were justified due to the far greater injustices and war crimes being committed in the Middle East and elsewhere. Mr Henry’s letter stated that “Shannon Airport is strategically vital national infrastructure, serving not only commercial air traffic but also facilitating military traffic at the direction of Government." The issue of ‘facilitating military traffic at the direction of Government’ is the real issue at Shannon airport especially given that complicity in genocide is a crime under international law and under Irish law (the 1973 Genocide Act). He also said that the incursions posed a very serious security risk. The most serious security risks at Shannon Airport are caused by US military use of the airport. This creates an increased risks of terrorist type attacks or retaliation attacks by one of the belligerents in the Russian / Ukrainian war due the Irish Government actively providing military and financial support to the Ukrainian military and to its government. A neutral Irish Government should be promoting peace not wars.

Of concern also is the request by Mr Henry to the minister "Given the ongoing threat, your intervention on this issue would send an important message about the seriousness with which the State views these breaches and the importance of safeguarding the integrity of Shannon Airport". The integrity of the lives of Palestinians and others killed in US-supported wars, are far more important than the integrity of Shannon Airport.

The RTE report by Ken Foxe also refers to the draft response by the minister for transport to the chair of Shannon Airport and to other correspondence and requests for action involving the ministers for transport and justice. Given that 12 peace activists are now before the courts and being prosecuted for incursions into Shannon airport, caution should be exercised to ensure that there is no inappropriate interference with the course of justice. It is essential that a proper independent investigation be conducted into the role of various Irish government, state and airport authorities in allowing US military use of Shannon airport. Accountability at all levels is vital in a democracy and even more vital at global level. Ending US military use of Shannon airport and restoring genuine Irish neutrality is by far the most effective way to ensure the safety and security of the Irish people. We also have legal, moral and humanitarian duties towards the rest of our common humanity.

Dr Edward Horgan (Comdt. retired) is a former UN peacekeeper. He is an active member of several Irish and international peace groups and completed a PhD Thesis on international peace and reform of the United Nations in 2008.