Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues have been raised in the questioning. If I am travelling as a civilian on a civilian aircraft I come with my bags and I could tell the airport staff that I do not have aerosols or anything in my bag but they check it. Do we take for granted that the only items in the hold are the hand guns and the rifles that have been stipulated or is there a checking procedure to ensure that only the items for which permission has been given are on the list? The witnesses may not wish to comment on this but it is uncanny that this week we passed a law allowing for random blood tests and drug tests where a Garda stops a car. It is strange that we do not have the power to allow the Garda go on an aeroplane to check that everything is above board on that aeroplane. That we do not allow those types of random searches is strange. If we were sending the Irish military abroad, as we do from time to time, are there more checks in other countries? Does the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have to jump through more hoops if we are sending our troops abroad? If they are travelling on a civilian aircraft to, say, Lebanon and stop off somewhere in between, are there more checks and balances of our military in other jurisdictions and sovereign states than here in Ireland?