A FORMER US ambassador to Ireland suspected the Government imposed new conditions on the use of Shannon airport by US troops in 2006 “to dampen public criticism” ahead of a general election the following year, according to a leaked diplomatic dispatch.
The cable was the first from the US embassy in Dublin to be released by WikiLeaks as part of the whistleblower organisation’s “Cablegate” leaking of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic dispatches.
In the September 2006 cable, which was classified confidential, James C Kenny acknowledged that “segments of the Irish public . . . see the airport as a symbol of Irish complicity in perceived US wrongdoing in the Gulf/Middle East and in regard to extraordinary renditions”.
He went on to detail the “more cumbersome” notification requirements for equipment-related transits at Shannon introduced following the Lebanon war in July that year.
“We suspect that the Government aims with tese [sic] new constraints to dampen public criticism ahead of the 2007 general elections, and we would apreciate [sic] Department gudance [sic] on a [US government] response, including on any next steps regarding the Shannon Five,” he wrote in the cable which was sent to several US diplomatic missions including Baghdad and Brussels as well as to the US state department in Washington.
The “Shannon Five” is a reference to the five protesters who were acquitted of criminal charges for damaging a US aircraft at the airport in 2003.
Mr Kenny said the new regime was “designed to give the Irish Government more latitude to decide on allowable transits”, but he implied that privately the Government wished to maintain the “diplomatic benefits” and the “significant revenues for the airport and regional economy”.
Some 340,000 US troops passed through Shannon on almost 2,500 contract carrier flights in 2005, in addition to about 450 equipment-related/distinguished-visitor flights and thousands of overflights by US aircraft.
The cable said Shannon airport earned €10.3 million from services associated with the US transit flights in 2005.
The Government had, Mr Kenny wrote, “consistently . . . acted to ensure continued US military transits at Shannon in the face of public criticism”. But he said the Irish public’s “overwhelming opposition” to Israeli military actions in Lebanon that summer had “exacerbated the governing Fianna Fáil party’s sensitivity to public criticism” ahead of the May 2007 general election.
“Any incident . . . that becomes the cause for a public debate about the US use of Shannon will likely add pressure on the Government,” he wrote.
Mr Kenny later noted: “Against this political backdrop, US missteps at Shannon could easily become campaign grist, a Fianna Fáil concern that mid-level [Department of Foreign Affairs] officials have cited in informal discussions.”
The cable outlined the US embassy’s displeasure at the “Shannon Five” ruling, and Mr Kenny wrote about options that might be considered including launching a civil case for damages, or “[presenting] an itemized bill for aircraft damages to the Irish Government, either to seek compensation outright or, at least, to convey [US government] dissatisfaction with the Shannon Five verdict.”
He wrote the then political director at the department had described the “Shannon Five” acquittal as “bizarre”.
He also noted that Willie O’Dea, minister of defence at the time, and other Fianna Fáil politicians had “publicly questioned the legal merits” of the jury’s decision.
Mr Kenny also requested advice on whether the new conditions would result in Shannon becoming “too difficult” to maintain as a preferred transit stop.
Colm O’Gorman, director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the cable reinforced the need for the Government to tighten up legislation around aircraft using Irish airspace.
“We must be able to identify foreign civilian aircraft that might be engaged in renditions and have detailed passenger information, and flight plans, from planes using our airspace,” he said.
“We should not rely on a foreign government to tell us what is going through Shannon.”