Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

While everything the Minister of State says is fine, the problem is that a member of the Judiciary has made a public statement to the effect that he is unhappy with the lack of regulation of private airports. Moreover, neither I nor the country in general is happy. The Minister of State should respond in this House at a later stage to the effect that sniffer dogs, the Garda, the customs service and whoever has responsibility will be deployed at private airports, as the flow of drugs into this country must be stopped. The criminals are sophisticated and if they wish to import drugs through private airports, they must be stopped and it should not be made easy for them. The tests that are in place for public airports must also apply for private airports. If this requires the installation of full-time staff in private airports, then this must be done because the scourge of drugs must be stopped.

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