The agreement remains in place, despite concerns raised by ministers and military officers over the years
The secret agreement required the consent of the Irish government before any action would be taken. One source described it as not a formal treaty but as a “memorandum of understanding”.Under the Constitution any formal treaty or alliance with another nation requires Dáil approval. It is understood government officials received legal advice that the agreement fell below the definition of a treaty, meaning it could remain secret.
In the early 2000s Air Corps officers also raised legal concerns about the agreement, with one senior officer advising officials that if an RAF pilot took lethal action in Irish airspace it may be a breach of international law. Under the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, only an Irish officer would have such authority, they argued, according to research published by Michael Mulqueen, professor of policing and national security at the University of Central Lancashire.
In recent years the agreement has been used to allow RAF aircraft to enter Irish airspace to intercept Russian bombers operating off the west coast. Last November, in a rare public acknowledgment of the arrangement, James Heappey, a British minister of state for defence, told Westminster that RAF jets have “deployed into Irish airspace on occasion”.
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