French and British warships providing air defence to Ireland during the EU presidency must remain 22km out to sea on foot of legal advice received by the Government.
While the assistance of the French and British navies was formally requested by Ireland to provide security during the six-month presidency, officers were told their ships cannot enter Irish territorial waters while engaged in these operations.
The unusual arrangement, which was described by three military and Government sources, is in response to advice from the Attorney General that it would likely be unconstitutional for foreign military forces to deploy within Irish territory while on active operations, even if these operations had been officially requested.
In particular, such operations would be in breach of Article 15 of the Constitution which states only the Oireachtas has the right to raise a military force on Irish territory, the Government was advised.
Another legal headache emerged when officials asked if a foreign power’s ship sitting outside Ireland’s territorial waters could take lethal action against airborne threats over Irish soil, for example a drone or hijacked airliner.
