Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. It appears from his response that the radar capability of the Defence Forces is limited and mainly involves the anti-aircraft section of the artillery corps. It appears to me that the radar capability of detecting a terrorist threat, the importation of illegal drugs or any illegal activity is limited.

I accept that some of these matters may come within the remit of the Minister for Transport rather than the Minister for Defence and I do not seek to elicit information from the Minister which he does not have. However, in his capacity as chairman of the national emergency planning group, can he confirm that we have a secondary radar system which can, on occasion, revert to being a primary radar system? This secondary radar system can only identify an aircraft which has a transponder on board. If the pilot of an aircraft entering Ireland deactivates the transponder the aircraft cannot be detected. Furthermore, some small aircraft may not be required to have such a transponder. In his capacity as chairman of the national emergency planning group, will the Minister examine the possibility of acquiring a primary radar system for the Defence Forces?

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