Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am keen to make the point at the outset that it is to the credit of the House and the political system in the country that we do not have a political debate in Ireland based around resistance to refugees coming to Ireland. That is to the credit of the House and the political parties operating within it. As Deputies will know, throughout Europe there is major resistance and growing xenophobia. However, in Ireland the pressure and lobbying is for a humanitarian response, with people wanting us to be more generous. There is no political capital to be gained from the opposite point of view, and that is to our credit as a political collective. No general election or any election has ever been dominated by the issues of migration, emigration or refugees. I hope that continues in future.

Deputy Ferris asked a direct question in respect of Shannon. This was referenced before by Deputy Wallace. Foreign military aircraft may be permitted to land in the State on condition that they are unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, do not engage in intelligence gathering and do not form part of any military exercise or operations. The US is granted blanket permission for overflights by unarmed military aircraft. Civil aircraft are prohibited from carrying weapons or munitions through Irish airspace and airports unless an exemption has been obtained in advance from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

I am aware of a recent press release regarding the landing at Shannon Airport of an armed aircraft similar to a type of aircraft which took part in an airstrike. This took place in September 2013. Contrary to notification the aircraft was found to be armed with a fixed weapon and did not, therefore, comply with the normal conditions that apply to foreign military aircraft overflying or landing in Ireland. As the then Tánaiste informed the Dáil on 15 October 2013, this case was raised at the highest possible level with the United States Embassy. The embassy official explained that this isolated incident had taken place as a result of an administrative error. Assurances were given that steps had been taken to prevent any recurrence.

I neglected to answer Deputy Martin's direct question about economic and monetary union and banking union. We welcome the focus in the report on completing banking union, backstops, bridge financing and revisiting a common deposit reinsurance scheme. It was regrettable that the reference to a banking union did not feature in the conclusions. However, we will continue to push for this in further discussions.

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