Shannon Airport has landed in a moral quagmire
On behalf of the justice and peace organisation, Afri, I am revulsed at comments by the head of the Shannon Airport Authority, Rose Hynes, to an Oireachtas committee, as reported in the Irish Examiner.
When asked about Shannon’s reliance on military traffic, Ms Hynes said: “Military traffic has been in the DNA of Shannon for many years.
It is something that is important, it’s lucrative, and we are certainly going to go after it as much as possible.”
I am appalled at Ms Hynes’ failure to consider the moral challenges of such ‘lucrative’ business. Evidence from Amnesty International shows 50 landings at Shannon of aircraft involved in rendition/torture up until 2005, with further cases since recorded by the NGO Shannonwatch. Is Ms Hynes saying collusion with torture and killing is part of Shannon’s DNA?
Shannonwatch records show that an average of three US military or military-contracted flights per day go through Shannon Airport, carrying troops and weapons, including to Iraq for the last ten years when a million people have been slaughtered. This is in addition to half a million people killed in Afghanistan, another war facilitated by Shannon.
Is this what now makes up the DNA of ‘neutral’ Ireland?
Joe Murray
Afri Director
134 Phibsborough Rd
Dublin 7
Shannon Airport has landed in a moral quagmire
On behalf of the justice and peace organisation, Afri, I am revulsed at comments by the head of the Shannon Airport Authority, Rose Hynes, to an Oireachtas committee, as reported in the Irish Examiner.
When asked about Shannon’s reliance on military traffic, Ms Hynes said: “Military traffic has been in the DNA of Shannon for many years.
It is something that is important, it’s lucrative, and we are certainly going to go after it as much as possible.”
I am appalled at Ms Hynes’ failure to consider the moral challenges of such ‘lucrative’ business. Evidence from Amnesty International shows 50 landings at Shannon of aircraft involved in rendition/torture up until 2005, with further cases since recorded by the NGO Shannonwatch. Is Ms Hynes saying collusion with torture and killing is part of Shannon’s DNA?
Shannonwatch records show that an average of three US military or military-contracted flights per day go through Shannon Airport, carrying troops and weapons, including to Iraq for the last ten years when a million people have been slaughtered. This is in addition to half a million people killed in Afghanistan, another war facilitated by Shannon.
Is this what now makes up the DNA of ‘neutral’ Ireland?
Joe Murray
Afri Director
134 Phibsborough Rd
Dublin 7
