Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply and note the action that has been taken. As well as that, whatever other measures are necessary need to follow, and will follow, according to what he outlined. If they do not, this will be repeated. Taking a passenger aircraft out of the air, by force, was an effective way of dealing with the situation. There have been incidents with passenger aircraft in parts of eastern Europe in the past, and we should not let it go unchallenged or pass without rigorously registering our concerns about it.

There is no doubt that the aircraft was known to be a passenger aircraft. The Ryanair emblem was clearly displayed. It was an aircraft carrying passengers who were going about their business and they had a right to so do. We talk a great deal about civil and human rights, and rightly so, but interfering in that way shows scant regard for international law, and the full rigours of international law need to be brought to bear on the perpetrators. I have every confidence that the Minister of State, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs will utilise and mobilise all forces necessary to ensure the seriousness of the act does not go unchallenged or unnoticed, and that action will be taken to ensure it does not happen again.

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