Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The primary responsibility in the event of a terrorist attack lies with the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces would come in response to a request for assistance. We have a limited air defence capacity but the events of 11 September showed that countries that spend a fortune on air defence cannot guarantee protection. Small countries do not spend resources that could be used for other things on air defences for that simple reason, although Israel is an exception to that. The money we spend on air defence is related to our assessment of the terrorist threat, which is currently low.

Countries like ours that cannot afford a huge air defence system like the United States or Britain have a simple choice. We either have a token air defence system or we have a range of tasks that can be performed in certain situations in a professional way and we have gone for the latter option. We have our own early warning systems. In the event of a foreign, air-borne terrorist threat to this country, our near neighbours would be on high alert because they would also feel threatened.

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