The Government is investigating whether a second airline transported explosives on behalf of the Israeli government through Irish sovereign airspace between Israel and the US, Minister of State James Lawless has said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport said that the investigation had been prompted by a report on The Ditch website.
The report stated that another airline had flown munitions through Irish airspace on behalf of the Israeli government this year.
"There are two types of airspace," Minister Lawless said. "There's Irish airspace, which is Irish sovereign jurisdiction, and there's Irish controlled airspace, which is a much wider net out into the North Atlantic, which are controlled by the Irish air traffic controller.
"If any aircraft is travelling through either of those airspaces with what we call munitions of war, it has an obligation to apply for permission to the Irish Government."
Minister Lawless outlined the difficulty in establishing what is being carried on board, and whether permission has been sought.
"How do you know? If plane is flying at 10,000 feet, you don't have X-ray vision to see what's in it."
The Government is "investigating, and we're trying to get to the bottom of what has happened," he added.
