Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I have information from the relevant Minister that the Government forced the taxpayer to pay almost €2.5 million in subsidies to the Irish Aviation Authority to direct US military flights over Irish airspace in the course of the last year. Is this of concern to the high level group? Would any possible consequences of these flights be within the group's remit? Is the continued use of Shannon Airport at a high level by the United States military to facilitate the ongoing occupation of Iraq of concern? Does co-ordination take place between the high level group and the office of emergency planning and if so what is the nature of that co-operation? While I appreciate the office of emergency planning has a wider remit, we need to know whether the criticisms made about the readiness of the State for any kind of emergency have been addressed or whether we must depend on a few iodine tablets to more or less take care of any eventuality we might confront.

Is the Taoiseach aware that early in the new year west County Dublin experienced a mini-tornado, which fortunately was limited but still created frightful damage at the points where it touched down? The damage could have been much more serious and this is a serious point because of the potential nature of the damage and whether the emergency services are sufficiently resourced and capable of response.

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