Military planes from 50 countries overfly State

Military aircraft from almost 50 countries have been granted permission by the Government to use Irish air space since 2000.

The number of over flights has more than doubled in recent years, from 1,963 in 2000 to 3,691 last year. To date in 2004, some 3,110 foreign military aircraft have been granted permission by the Department of Foreign Affairs to use Irish air space.

While many of the foreign military aircraft using Irish airspace belong to other EU states, military planes from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Ethiopia have also been granted permission to overfly.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said many flights would involve the transportation of heads of state or ministers on board military aircraft.

"It would be the same for Irish cabinet members using the Government jet, which is an Air Corps aircraft so it is classed as a military aircraft."

The Republic is on a flight path between the US and northern Europe.

The list of countries whose military aircraft have been permitted to use Irish airspace since 2000 is as follows: Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Thailand,Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom, the US and the Republic of Yemen.