Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being here earlier, but I was attending a Whips' meeting. Members of the committee might already have covered some of my questions. The Minister mentioned that exemptions were not given for 19 flights. Does he have any idea what the specific reasons were why those 19 were refused? What were the cargoes?

The Minister also referred to non-military planes which were open to inspection. Many of the planes we are talking about in this period were chartered on behalf of the US military or the US authorities. For instance, a lot of the flights involved in rendition were chartered by the CIA. The list has been provided and has been cross-referenced. Would the Garda or Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport personnel have been able to check them when they arrived in Ireland? If so, was that ever done? Is it open to our authorities to undertake random drug or other checks on any flight landing in Ireland?