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Two of the suspects climbed through a hole cut into the roof and sprayed green paint onto the aircraft using a modified fire extinguisher.
Ireland’s Shannon Airport was temporarily shut down on Saturday after anti-Israel protesters vandalized a parked U.S. Navy aircraft with green paint.
At a special sitting of Ennis District Court, Det. Garda Colm Moriarty said the trio—each 23 years old—used a modified Ford Transit van to break through an airside barrier around 9:30 a.m. Saturday before speeding across the runway toward “Taxi 11,” where a U.S. Navy Reserve Boeing 737-700 had been parked overnight under Irish Defense Forces protection.
Undeterred, two of the suspects then climbed through a hole cut into the roof and sprayed green paint onto the aircraft using a modified fire extinguisher. As a result, the airport shut down for 30 minutes, with one incoming aircraft forced into a holding pattern.
Investigators say the van had been fortified from the inside with chains, bicycle locks, and metal barriers to delay entry. Authorities required assistance from the airport fire brigade to cut open the rear compartment, where tools including hammers, spray-paint bottles, and heavy-duty chains were recovered.
This isn’t the first time Shannon’s security perimeter has been breached. Earlier this year, pro-Hamas demonstrators used a commercial van to ram through the airport’s fencing and disrupt operations while targeting an Omni Air Boeing 767 that had landed to refuel.
In this case, all three suspects—named as Kaspar Aiden Cantwell Strattra of Meath, Emily Cathcart of Dublin, and Conan Kavanagh of Dublin and Cork—have been charged with criminal damage to the U.S. aircraft, criminal damage to an airside vehicle barrier, and trespassing at the Shannon main taxiway.
Judge Marie Keane emphasized that Shannon Airport’s security is tied to “the security of the State as a whole” and noted the high cost of repainting an aircraft, “in the tens of thousands, if not more.”
All three are required stay away from all Irish airports, sign regularly at local Garda stations, and refrain from airport-related protests. Additionally, as part of their bail conditions, Kavanagh and Cathcart must guarantee €10,000 to the court, while Cantwell Strattra must pay €5,000 in cash.
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