Ban on Israel weapons 'superficial' - Greens

Green Party TD Paul Gogarty has described the Government's ban preventing the United States from shipping weapons through State airports to Israel as "an exercise in cynicism and superficiality".

The Department of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that any request to transport weapons through Shannon for use in the conflict in Lebanon will be refused.

But the Green Party spokesperson on defence and foreign affairs said the Government's move to ban the transportation of weapons "smacks of double standards" for the families of those injured or killed in the Iraq conflict by US troops, many of whom, he said "are likely to have passed through Shannon airport".

Mr Gogarty said the Government's response to charges that it had allowed "renditions flights" through Shannon was that it had "not been informed as to the purpose of those flights".

He then asked how the Government could think the US would "be any more truthful" about the purpose of their current military missions.

Mr Gogarty called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to "totally and unequivocally ban" the transportation of "any foreign troops, weapons and munitions" through Irish airports.

"Irish neutrality and the protection of human life should never be prioritised below commercial interest," he added.