Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this important subject. Comments allegedly made by Omar Bakri Muhammad, a Muslim cleric, activist and publisher, were yesterday put into the public domain by the BBC. In an on-line debate, Muhammad was asked if Dublin Airport should be a target for a terrorist attack as American troops transited through the facility on the way to Iraq. He responded by saying, "Hit the target and hit it very hard".

It is symptomatic of the lack of priority given to the threat of international terrorism by the Government that the people have learned of this statement through the media channels of another European state. Our intelligence services receive a tiny amount of funding and are completely under-equipped in terms of monitoring even a fraction of the terrorism-related activity on the Internet. It is beyond time for the Government to realise that, in certain quarters, Ireland is viewed as a reasonable target for terrorist attack. As a matter of priority, we now need to put in place the structures to cope with this threat effectively, both in terms of protecting those living in the State from terrorism and ensuring that Ireland cannot be used as a staging post for an attack on another country.

While the invasion of Iraq is often quoted as justification for terrorism, we should remember that the 11 September 2001 attacks occurred before this military action took place. It is clear that a hard-line extremist element has developed which will use every tool at its disposal to radicalise predominately young men to carry out terrorist atrocities. This was, for example, the case with the London bombings in July 2005.

I do not believe that the Government has treated threats of Islamic terrorism with the importance they deserve. We cannot wait until there is an attack on Irish soil or, more likely, that Ireland is used as a base for an attack on neighbouring countries before action is taken. The Government pays scant regard to the importance of emergency planning. I have frequently called for the work of the task force on emergency planning to be underpinned through legislation and for the creation of a single emergency planning body which would report to the Taoiseach. This is in line with a recommendation from the emergency planning society made to Government in 2003, yet this recommendation has never been acted on.

Ireland's emergency response is split between a large number of Departments, State agencies and sub-groups. Emergency incidents have been simulated but we have no real information about these exercises or their findings. Even basic and common sense steps to improve security at our airports have not been progressed. Irish airports lack sniffer dogs to check for explosives. There is no visible, armed presence at our airports to act as a deterrent and to be in place to respond quickly in an emergency. Additionally, Ireland has no air marshal training programme. Given all this, it is not surprising that a survey conducted earlier this year found that 70% of the population did not believe Ireland was well-prepared to cope with a serious emergency.

This year, attacks which would have killed thousands of people engaged in transatlantic travel, including Irish citizens among their number, were foiled. However, even with these developments, the Government seems not to have realised that the tactics of international terrorists have changed. The focus now is on the body count and on attacks which maximise the loss of civilian life and strike terror into the population. The civilians in question — their nationality, political allegiance or religion — are of little importance. Look, for example, at those killed in London in July 2005. The dead represented every section of the multicultural society that exists in that city — people of all colours, religions and ethnic backgrounds.

Omar Bakri Muhammad highlighted the practice of targeting people indiscriminately when he said: "We don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents." The protection of civilians is the highest responsibility that any Government can hold. It is high time this responsibility is taken seriously. We can do this by establishing a single body, as they have in Britain, responsible for national emergency planning. This body would be under the control of the Taoiseach. We must also invest resources in our intelligence services. Currently, €800,000 is allocated to the intelligence services while we spend €3 million on the removal of graffiti. We must establish an intelligence body comprising all those that have something to bring to it. This would include the Garda, the military and the Customs and Excise service. I ask the Minister to examine the possibility of establishing such a body.

See this speech in context