Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín has called on the government to urgently seek to establish an Irish Civil Reserve Air Fleet to repatriate the estimated 20,000 Irish citizens currently trapped by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Deputy Tóibín said “The scale of this crisis is unprecedented. We have upwards of 20,000 Irish citizens, families, workers, and travellers trapped in regions as missiles fall and airspaces close.
While the Department of Foreign Affairs advises people to wait, the reality is that Ireland lacks the sovereign capacity to safely repatriate citizens should the citation deteriorate further
“We have seen this play out previously and the state has not learned from past mistakes. During the fall of Kabul in 2021, Ireland was forced into a position of international passivity. We did not have the air capability to repatriate our own people. Instead, we were entirely dependent on French and Finnish Forces to secure seats for Irish citizens.”
“I am calling for the immediate development of an Irish Civil Reserve Air Fleet. Ireland is a global powerhouse in aviation and aircraft leasing; there is no logistical reason why we cannot have standing, pre-negotiated contracts with commercial carriers to surge transport capacity during national emergencies.
“The state’s new Falcon 6X and C-295 fleet has a combined capacity of just 84 passengers; they are wholly inadequate for an evacuation of this magnitude. It would take four full flights of the entire new fleet to match a single Aer Lingus A330. Ireland must establish a formal “sovereign airbridge” to activate commercial wide-body aircraft for large-scale emergencies”
“The primary duty of any State is the protection of its citizens. We cannot continue to outsource our overseas emergency response to our neighbours. We need an Irish solution that ensures when our people are in danger, we have the means to bring them home ourselves.
