Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's question is about the number of occasions in 2013 on which the Garda Síochána requested support from the Defence Forces at Shannon Airport. It does not reference war efforts or 1 million people being slaughtered. I do not know where the Deputy thinks 1 million people have been slaughtered or why anything happening in Shannon Airport has resulted in that slaughter.

In the context of the actual question the Deputy raised, the answer is as follows. An Garda Síochána has the primary responsibility for law and order, including protection of the internal security of the State. Among the roles assigned to the Defence Forces is the provision of aid to the civil power, or ATCP for short, which in practice means to assist An Garda Síochána when requested to do so.

The Defence Forces have provided assistance to An Garda Síochána at Shannon Airport since 2003. In 2013, Defence Force personnel were deployed to Shannon Airport on 324 occasions in response to requests for support from An Garda Síochána. The length of each such deployment and the number of relevant aircraft that land and take off during each deployment can vary. For example, on a given day troops may be deployed to Shannon Airport once, but the mission as formally requested by the Garda may relate to the arrival and departure of more than one aircraft. On other occasions, for example, if a single aircraft is on the ground for an extended period, perhaps overnight, this may involve two or more deployments of troops, as each shift is generally of 12 hours' duration.

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