Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I mentioned the investigation just to say that it is an ongoing Garda investigation. I have no doubt there will be a result to that. Whatever happened during the day in the response from the Garda or otherwise, I know that gardaí, working with air traffic control and with the inclusion of the Defence Forces, have been doing a review of what happened and whether improvements need to be made. My view of what happened on the day was that it was a hugely successful visit and the decisions that were taken were the right decisions. While I am not criticising or saying it was the wrong thing to do, in other countries where there was perhaps a larger number of drones, the airspace was closed down. It caused huge disruption when there was perhaps not the same level of threat or a threat at the time. These are decisions that the Garda and others have to make in these instances. I think the decisions that they took on that day were the right ones. Again, it was a hugely successful visit. My understanding is that the security team of President Zelenskyy were very happy with the way in which it was managed and monitored and the way in which the overall operation was carried out. I always think that lessons should be learned. If there is something to be learned here, whether on communications or otherwise, then we need to make sure that those changes are in place, be it for the Presidency or more generally.