Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The people we will be dealing with are law enforcement officers. They are not Irish law enforcement officers but they are law enforcement officers in American terms. From the US side, they will have been checked and cleared for security purposes. Obviously, they are here for a specific purpose, which is to ensure that people do not board planes bound for the United States who should not get on them. Therefore, there will be a high level of checking from the US viewpoint. All the security issues at the airport that the Deputy raised, including the necessary clearances, will apply to these officers as they apply to airport staff generally. They are not immune from that, although they are immune from legal cases in the performance of their duties providing they do so with due care and diligence. Immunity does not mean that they will saunter around the airport in places that are not preclearance areas. The matter is secure from that point of view.

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