Two former US soldiers have been arrested after an alleged security breach at Shannon Airport this morning.

The pair are members of ‘US Veterans for Peace’ – an international organisation dedicated to “building a culture of peace and exposing the true costs of war.”

The group has been in Ireland in recent days giving public talks on the “disrespect shown by the US military for Ireland's traditional neutrality.”

They were arrested under the Air Navigation and Transport Act this morning under suspicion of breaching the airport perimeter in an attempt to reach a civilian plane carrying around 300 US soldiers.

The Omni Air International jet arrived at the terminal building this morning.

Six US Veterans For Peace (VFP), including two Iraq combat veterans will be in Ireland from March 14th to the 20th. They will be speaking publicly about the... https://t.co/ylTyNGaGmc

— Veterans For Peace (@VFPNational) March 16, 2019

This afternoon, Edward Horgan, a spokesperson for Irish Veterans for Peace, told Newstalk that the ongoing use of Shannon Airport by the US military is “in direct breach of Irish neutrality.”

“The Irish Government continually say that we are a neutral country but under the international oath of neutrality we must not allow troops and munitions to pass through our territory on their way to war,” he said.

“This plane was coming from military bases in the US and was more than likely going on to bases in the Middle East.”

Gardaí said the two people arrested at the airport this morning are being held at Shannon Garda Station.

US Veterans for Peace is due to hold a protest at Shannon Airport at 2pm today.