Dáil debates

Tuesday, 10 October 2006

7:00 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

Until recently, most people, if they had heard a description of a €10 million drugs haul at an airfield on the Continent bound for a small unmonitored aerodrome on the outskirts of Dublin using an aeroplane borrowed without the knowledge of its owner, would have assumed it referred to an extract from a television show such as "Miami Vice". Unfortunately, life is beginning to imitate art in a dangerous and worrying way at Weston Aerodrome on the Leixlip-Lucan border where 50 kg of heroin was to be landed. According to the aerodrome's website, this consignment would have been delayed by only five minutes between "plane touch down and taxi or limousine departure". This "key benefit" of a mere five minute delay between landing at and exiting the airport may not be an open advertisement of a non-existent or light security standard but who would be attracted by such an advertisement? We can all agree that recent events in Belgium give us a clue as to the answer to this question.

Following ongoing discussions with local people in north Kildare and west Dublin on the level of security at Weston Aerodrome, I first raised the issue with the Minister for Finance in a parliamentary question inquiring about the customs arrangement at the aerodrome. I was informed that while the volume and type of business conducted at the aerodrome did not justify the deployment of a permanent customs presence, customs officers visited the aerodrome regularly as a check against the landing or exportation of prohibited goods, in particular, controlled drugs. In February this year, I tabled a further parliamentary question asking the number of customs visits conducted at the aerodrome and was informed that during 2004 officers attached to the Dublin enforcement district carried out 12 planned and six unplanned visits to Weston Aerodrome and a further ten planned and six unplanned visits in 2005.

Effectively, self-regulation is in force at the 27 private airfields in the State. While the Government deadbolts front door access to the State at our major airports, it has handed out copies of the back door key to anyone who has shown an interest in having one. Anyone can own, operate or work at a private airfield without undergoing a security check. Aer Rianta operates under strict Garda and customs supervision and will not even issue a security badge to a person with a criminal record, not to speak of allowing such a person to take an aeroplane for a spin. How can the Government justify such a relaxed approach to security at private airfields when we are only too aware of the incidence of drug smuggling at larger, heavily monitored airports?

Like the customs cover at Weston, immigration arrangements are also limited. I refer to an article in Village magazine of 24 August:

An internal Garda report has highlighted security risks at Weston. The airport has no immigration officers, no x-ray, baggage or people scanning machines. The report goes on to say that the airport makes it possible for terrorists to enter England or the rest of Europe with explosives.

I raised similar security concerns during the Second Stage debate on the Air Navigation Transport (Indemnities) Bill. We must remember that the State provides major indemnities to people who require to take them up. A dedicated operation targeting air shipments of drugs into Ireland was cancelled almost ten years ago because there was no money to keep it going. That operation must be restored without delay. While I congratulate those involved in the recent heroin seizure in Belgium, we can imagine how much more success we would see if the Government provided the Revenue and the Garda with adequate resources. The €10 million pales into insignificance when one considers the cost of drug treatment programmes, drug-related crimes and their prevention and the cost of imprisoning those who have fallen through the cracks and wound up in our prisons. What about the trail of human misery and destruction that drug gangs, organised crime and drug use causes?

I wish to highlight the irony of the destination of the Belgian heroin. It was headed for Weston Aerodrome, a stone's throw from Lucan Garda station where the Garda worked tirelessly gathering evidence related to the murder of Ms Veronica Guerin, a victim of drug-related crime of the worst kind. It is the Government's responsibility to ensure that history does not repeat itself and to make adequate provision to stop the existing back-door arrangement.

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