Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

If a government of the stature of the US Government which has such a connection with this country gives us an absolute assurance in this regard, we accept it. Every time this matter has been raised in the media and in this House my officials have contacted the US Embassy and people in Washington and on every occasion they have said that there has been no such transiting. They have said that they do not intend to do so and that if they did, they would ask the Irish authorities about that. They have given that guarantee whether it be Shannon or any other airport. We accept their word like we accepted the word of any other country in regard to such transiting. Did we stop any of the Russian planes transiting through Shannon when they were going to Cuba for many years? We did not because we accepted that the conditions under which they were flying through Shannon were in place. In the case of the US which has given huge amounts of financial support to this country, are we to turn around and deny what US officials, speaking on behalf of a sovereign government, have told us? We would not do so. If the Deputy was on this side of this House with some of the parties to which his party is cosying up, is he saying he would adopt a different attitude to not only accepting the US Government's word but to continuing to allow what is happening at Shannon?

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