The following is a slightly modified version of a letter from Shannonwatch's Edward Horgan that appeared in the Sunday Independent of 2nd August.
Recent reports of fewer US troops use Shannon Airport cite figures provided by Shannon Airport stating that the number of US troops using it was 15,326 from January 1 to the end of June, a drop of 42% on the 26,340 who went through in the same period last year.
Friends of Shannonwatch and regular protesters at the airport are organising a Peace Camp at the airport on the weekend of July 4th and 5th. Here's are the details - come along if you can!
SHANNON AIRPORT 36-HOUR PEACE CAMP & VIGIL - SHANNON AIRPORT PEACE ROUNDABOUT
SATURDAY 4 JULY 6am until SUNDAY 5 JULY 6pm
We’ll be camping beside the Shannon Airport Peace Roundabout to mark the 2nd anniversary of the now weekly Shannon Sunday Vigil
Below are details of aircraft associated with the US military over the past week while the US are involved in wars and genocide in the Middle East. This makes Ireland complicit in war crimes. And it is why peace activists have been protesting at Shannon for over 25 years.
Omni Air N378AX landed at Shannon Airport about 22.08 on 25 June coming from Pope US Army Airfield Fort Bragg NC. It took off about 01.30 on 26 June and flew on to Sofia Bulgaria. It then flew from Sofia to south west Jordan. N378AX returned to land at Shannon about 04.10 on 27 June coming from Jordan and Sofia Bulgaria. It took off about 0541 and flew on to Bangor ME and to Austin TX.
The following talk was given by Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch to the 2026 Roger Casement Summer School at Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin on May 16th.
Hello all, and thanks to the Roger Casement Summer School for inviting me to participate in this event.
In my preparation for this I read a newly published book by Rory Carroll. Its title is A REBEL AND A TRAITOR. In my view it is unduly critical towards Casement but it does paint an interesting historical picture. I grew up a few miles from Banna Strand, so I always had a keen interest in the story of Roger Casement.
I will begin with a couple of quotes:
Edmund Burke is credited with saying: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"; I disagree with Burke. In my view good people don’t stand idly by and do nothing while evil is being perpetrated. Whatever you do in the face of evil don’t do nothing.
This letter by Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch was published in the Irish Daily Mail on 30 Apr.
A recent UN report found that more than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025. This figure does not include those buried under rubble, and deaths caused by hunger, diseases, and the destruction of vital infrastructure.
This event is supported by Shannonwatch.
Event: To remember Hind Rajab, the five year-old girl who was killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza on January 29th 2024
Where: The Peace Roundabout at Shannon Airport.
When: 1-2pm, May 3rd 2026, which would have been Hind’s eighth birthday
In the midst of ongoing protests around the country, we held our monthly protest in opposition to the US military's us of Shannon airport today. The nationwide protests have been mostly about rising fuel prices, which are inextricably linked to the illegal US/Israeli war on Iran. More generally the impact of fuel prices on all our lives has a lot to do with the ongoing instability caused by war and the over-reliance on fossil fuels.
On March 13th, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the economic cost to the US of the illegal war on Iran was running at $16.5 billion. And that was only after 12 days. In 2025, the Costs of War project at Brown University reported that from 2001 to 2019, the US spent over $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan, and from 2003 to 2023 it spent and obligated over $2.89 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Syria.
These are all wars that Ireland supported by making Shannon Airport available to the US military since 2001.
Following restrictions imposed by Spain, France and Italy on US linked aircraft using their airspace and bases, Shannonwatch call on the Irish government to take similar action without delay. As a neutral country, the granting of permission to US military flights to land at Shannon or to fly through Irish airspace has become even more indefensible given the illegality of the US actions in Iran.
On Tuesday (March 31st) Shannonwatch logged no fewer than seven flights associated with the US military at Shannon or passing through Irish airspace. These included six aircraft on contract to the US military, all likely to be carrying armed troops or cargo, and a US Air Force Gulfstream V that travelled through Irish airspace about 21.40, coming from Camp Springs Air Base in Washington.
Lelia Doolan is encouraging us all to stand up (& walk) for peace. Join us from 31st March.
At 91 years, Lelia has seen too much of the devastation caused by wars, apartheid and genocide. She is donning her (ethically sourced!) walking shoes to blaze a trail from Shannon Airport to Dáil Éireann.
Joined by community groups and peace activists along the old road to Dublin, they will express the frustration, shame and anger felt by the many Irish stalwarts who have for over 30 years, (since 1981!), regularly protested at Shannon at the use of the airport by US military planes - whose personnel and cargos the Irish government refuses to inspect.
Update from Court (March 25th) for the Boeing 3
All three actionists had their sign-on days reduced from 3 to 1 a week. Furthermore the charges of trespass were withdrawn and replaced with a charge of section 47 of the Air Traffic Control Act. Next court date will be the 6th of may for the hand over of the book of evidence.
As the Irish government seems more determined than ever to allow the US military use Shannon Airport, it's important to acknowledge and support the activists who have taken action to try to highlight and end it over the last few years. They are being dragged through the courts while nothing is done by the authorities to investigate the complicity of the US military/diplomatic aircraft in illegal wars, crimes against humanity and genocide.
