Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On the general point, most of the information we get on international terrorism usually comes from Europol or Eurojust. Substantial information is transferred from them.

With regard to not being informed on rogue aircraft, there is an agreement, which is renewed annually, with the Department of Foreign Affairs on procedures for dealing with such events or any breaches of the agreement. The Department of Foreign Affairs is very careful to follow up any issues which arise, whether they arise along the Border, along the coast or in the sea between Ireland and Britain. There is a procedure for dealing with such issues. Traditionally, the National Security Committee does not give the dates of its meetings. While the committee meets fairly regularly, it does not meet monthly. The various elements of the committee, such as the Garda and the Defence Forces, are in contact with one another on a more regular basis to consider various issues. I suppose the reason for the traditional practice is that if the committee were to start making the dates of its meetings known, people would start to ask what it was talking about etc. Many of the committee's dealings relate to international terrorism and much of the information it discusses relates to the movement of individuals. That was probably the convention in the past. There are many more discussions of that nature now for the obvious reason that there is a fair bit of movement of people who are of interest to the international agencies in Ireland and other countries.

See this speech in context