Record numbers of US troops are going through Shannon Airport this year as the facility continues to play a role in the US war effort in Iraq, it emerged yesterday.
Despite President Bush's announcement in May 2003 that major hostilities had ended in Iraq, the number of US troops using facilities at Shannon en route to the Gulf and other US bases is set to surpass last year's figure of 125,000 before the end of this month.
This is shown in figures released yesterday by Shannon Airport, where the numbers for 2004 have already breached the 100,000 barrier, with 112,803 troops going through Shannon on 1,114 flights in the nine months to the end of September.
This marks a 17 per cent increase on the 96,403 troops who passed through Shannon in the corresponding period last year, when the Iraq war took place.
The numbers in recent months have shown a steady increase. The highest monthly figure went through in September, with 22,525 troops stopping off on 150 flights. This followed 14,830 who went through in August and 11,932 in July.
By the end of this year, it is expected that just under 350,000 US troops will have passed through Shannon in the past three years.
The airport has secured an estimated €14 million from the US business in 2004. This follows the estimated €25 million it secured from the military traffic in 2003 and 2002.
Though the US troop traffic represents 6 per cent of the airport's overall passenger numbers this year, it is however the only area of Shannon's air traffic business which is growing this year.
Currently, Shannon is the only State-owned airport recording a drop in overall passenger numbers this year, with a fall of 2 per cent, in contrast to Dublin, which recorded an increase of 8 per cent and Cork, with an increase of 3.5 per cent.
Commenting on the increase in US troop numbers, the leader of the Green Party, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Government was getting more sucked into the war and was running out of hiding places in relation to its ambivalence over it. He said Ireland's credibility as a responsible member of the UN was irretrievable if it turned a blind eye to what went on at Shannon.
A member of the Refuelling Peace group, Mr Tim Hourigan, accused the Government of "trying to sweep the issue of US troops going through Shannon under the carpet".
In response to a Dáil question from Labour's spokeswoman on transport, Ms Róisín Shortall, on the allegation that al-Qaeda suspects were passing through Shannon on a US aircraft, the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, said: "There is no evidence that this aircraft was being used for any illegal activity on any occasion when it was in Shannon Airport."
Mr Cullen said the aircraft referred to had used Shannon Airport 13 times from 2000 to 2004. He said: "Each landing was a technical stop, that is, for refuelling or other technical reasons. On no occasion did any passengers join or leave the flight at Shannon."
