State loses bid to block Senator’s case over ‘secret’ deal with Royal Air Force

The State’s effort to block the hearing of a senator’s High Court case seeking to compel the Government to reveal the existence of a secret security arrangement allowing Royal Air Force (RAF) jets to enter Irish airspace in certain circumstances has failed at the Court of Appeal.

Senator Gerard Craughwell’s case argues that an agreement exists to allow the RAF to intercept hostile aircraft posing a threat to Ireland and the UK, and the Government is in breach of the Constitution by not laying it before the Dáil.

Article 25.9.1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states “every international agreement to which the State becomes a party shall be laid before Dáil Éireann”.

The State says it is long-standing policy to neither confirm nor deny matters regarding external security. It argues that if an air defence arrangement does exist, it does not meet the definition of an “international agreement” and therefore is not subject to Dáil scrutiny.

Last year, the State attempted to…

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