Niall O'Connor
A NEW AFFIDAVIT in a court case taken by a senator has said he has new evidence that Ireland and Britain had an agreement for British military aircraft to intercept suspected terrorist hijacked aircraft in Irish airspace without clearance by Irish authorities.
The affidavit lodged in the High Court last week claims that documents show that Ireland and Britain carried out an exercise in the summer of 2015 to test the Royal Air Force’s response to a terrorist attack using a civilian passenger aircraft over Ireland.
The affidavit claims that this is evidence of the secret agreement in action.
In his pleadings Senator Gerry Craughwell, said his counsel have extensive new evidential documents for his case to compel the Irish Government to confirm that a deal exists between the British and Irish governments for the RAF to use Irish airspace.
The case has had a number of appearances in court around procedural applications and an attempt by the State to block Craughwell’s efforts for it to go to full hearing.
The government and the State, which have never confirmed or denied the existence of the alleged agreement, has previously opposed Craughwell’s efforts to get the case off the ground. The Irish State denies acting improperly or unconstitutionally.
Craughwell’s argument is that it is a breach of the Irish constitution and should have been laid before the Oireachtas. He is seeking an order from the court so that the Irish people can be informed of the nature of the agreement.
The court document, seen by The Journal, speaks of seeking discovery from the Irish state solicitor’s office with a deadline of 17 June at midday. This affidavit seeks relevant documents before they pursue their case – the State, the affidavit says, did not meet that discovery.
It also says that on 13 July counsel will go to the High Court and make a formal application with a High Court Judge that the State produce, to Craughwell’s legal team, the agreements Ireland entered into with the British State. Meaning the State has not completed the discovery of those documents.
Discovery is whereby a participant in a court case can get documents they need for their hearing from the other party involved.
In the new affidavit Craughwell’s legal team produced a copy of a memorandum of understanding between the Irish and British governments signed by a number of officials and then Minister for Defence Simon Coveney in 2015. The affidavit also asserts a number of statements of fact based on documents they have in their possession.
Memos of understanding have been confirmed by the government previously but the claimed secret RAF deal has not.
This includes a copy of an email which outlines an interaction between Irish officials and a named high level officer in the Royal Air Force discussing Operation Adana in May 2015.
The affidavit claims the email about Operation Adana is associated with the agreement between Ireland and Britain and is about the “UK counter terror operations within Irish Airspace”.
That email, the affidavit claims, discusses a visit of Irish officials to Britain for a simulated exercise that would “test the updated agreement”.
The correspondence said that this was the first time such an exercise was undertaken with the Irish Aviation Authority.
Craughwell’s affidavit also asserts that Operation Adana “is consistent with, and builds upon” a British and Irish agreement in the wake of 11 September attacks in the US.
The court filing further states that the original memo of understanding was made in March 2002 as the British were asking for “assistance in combatting rogue aircraft”.
The deal re-examined how Quick Reaction Alert aircraft responded over Ireland, the affidavit asserts. It was re-examined because the system of seeking permissions was not “fast enough”.
The court document claims that the redrawn deal allowed refuelling and early warning aircraft as well fighter jets to operate in Irish airspace as they investigated a “potential rogue aircraft”.
The affidavit states that the measure would only be used in “exceptional circumstances” and with “explicit authorisation from an agency nominated by the Irish government”.
In July 2024, the High Court dismissed the State’s application to have the preliminary issue on whether the case could be ruled on by a court in advance of the main proceedings.
The State had appealed to the Court of Appeal that decision and Brian Kennedy SC, for the government and the Attorney General, told the three-judge panel that the claims made by Craughwell were “not judicable” and the matters claimed in court papers were political and not legal ones.
In March 2025 the Court of Appealrejected that argument and found in favour of the senator.
In a complex judgment, looking at process and procedure in regard to a preliminary hearing ahead of a full hearing, Judges Charles Meehan, MacGrath and Collins ruled against the State’s motion for a strike out of the proceedings.