Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

That is probably the Minister's worst answer ever. He spent all the time up to the final five seconds outlining the existing system when the question was specifically whether we should change it. Last year 741 foreign military aircraft were given permission to land in Ireland. The Minister is claiming they were all unarmed and were not involved in anything. I would like to know what he thinks they actually were doing. Similarly with civilian aircraft, more than 600 exemptions were sought from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for the passage of ammunition and personal weaponry for 55,000 soldiers who transited on civilian aircraft. Did the Minister see the media reports that two people gave evidence in court during the week that they had seen guns and ammunition on civilian aircraft? Is it not time to centralise all applications for exemptions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade?

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