Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I understand that the issue this morning had to do with the airlines. Because they were presented as deportees the airlines were not willing to take more than two at a time. We felt we had that issue resolved by this afternoon and that all seven would be on board a flight. I understand that what happened this afternoon was that two of the seven were detained because of security clearance issues on the Israeli side. Frankly, I do not see how there can be a problem with security clearance for people already in custody who were being deported. As I stated, we have communicated to the Israeli ambassador here and the Israeli foreign ministry our deep dissatisfaction at what happened this afternoon.

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