Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

This is a matter of serious concern to the Government. The travelling public, particularly those who travel by air, are aware of the security issues arising from what has happened in many countries over the last four or five years. People understand the necessity of security searches and the delays which sometimes arise as a consequence. The Department of Transport conducts regular security inspections and tests of aviation facilities and operations at Irish airports. This work is ongoing but is not flagged for obvious reasons. In addition, aviation facilities and operators at airports are subject to audit by the European Union and the European Civil Aviation Conference in partnership with the Department of Transport.

The Government has sought a detailed report of how these matters arose and what is required as a consequence. That would happen in the normal course of an audit following any such breaches. It is a matter of concern that during this particular audit, a number of control tests by the inspectors breached security arrangements. As is normal in these situations, action is taken either on the spot or quickly thereafter to rectify the weaknesses. Officials of the Department of Transport and the Dublin Airport Authority were on hand quickly to ensure all appropriate action was taken and that the security breaches identified were addressed immediately. This particular audit started on Monday morning and was scheduled to run until tomorrow. I am unsure how its continuation will be handled now that the details have emerged. It may be rescheduled for another time.

I agree with Deputy Kenny that security at airports is paramount. Whatever is necessary after any of these audits will be done. We are obliged to ensure audits are undertaken frequently either by departmental or EU officials. Deputy Kenny observed that the people doing these jobs are courteous and work very hard. Some of them have pointed out to me that delays are inevitable if they check everything, particularly if they get quite finicky about every issue as the public probably wants them to be. One member of staff contacted me last night to tell me how the knife was concealed and how detailed a process would be required to follow through on all these issues.

However, this may be what is required. If an incident takes place on an airplane all hell breaks loose. I understand the difficulties for the staff but there seems to be no way around this. Despite rumours to the contrary last night, no guns or live ammunition were used in the course of the security tests on Monday or yesterday.

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