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SHANNON AIRPORT CLOSED for a time this evening following a security breach where a van attempted to enter the airport.
Three people have been detained after they left the van stuck in a ditch and they ran onto a taxiway. The incident is understood to have occurred at around 6.20pm.
The incident resulted in some inbound flights being placed in holding patterns until operations could resume.
A group calling itself Palestine Action Éire has claimed credit for the incident. In a statement tonight, it said it took the action in protest over the use of the US military using the airport for “active warzones in the Middle East, including Israel and
Yemen”.
It is believed that a white van crossed a grass area on the main road into the airport and crashed through the perimeter fence.
A spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Group said that it had “suspended operations for about an hour and that a number of flights were delayed as a result of the incident.
“Shannon Airport has resumed normal operations following an incident which required gardaí assistance,” the airport group’s spokesperson said.
“The airport suspended operations at 6.30pm and a number of flights were delayed as a result. The situation was promptly addressed by gardaí and operations fully resumed at 7.30pm.”
It is understood that a number of people wearing orange jump suits, hard hats and scarves over their faces then entered the airport’s ‘air side’ area. They ran in the direction of a taxiway before were detected and quickly apprehended.
Airport police officers responded to the scene from both airside and landside directions while Gardaí were also alerted and requested to attend.
While the front of the van managed to breach the security fence by several feet, it was prevented from making it any further by a trench that runs inside the barrier.
It’s thought that three persons then climbed out of the van and ran towards a taxiway. Once the breach was detected, flight operations were suspended.
A security source said overtime has been cut at the airport and that gardaí are likely to respond to the incident by increasing numbers at the location.
This would be similar to levels seen in the mid 2000s amid protests against the US over its war in Iraq, security sources said.
A spokesperson for the Garda Press Office said: “Gardaí are currently at the scene of an ongoing incident at Shannon Airport in Co. Clare. No further details are available at this time.”
With reporting by Niall O’Connor and Eoghan Dalton
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