Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not agreed. The Government's refusal to provide any clarity on reports that there has been a long-standing agreement with the British Government that allows the RAF to operate in Irish airspace simply is not good enough. Such a dependency on a foreign Government to monitor and protect our skies against hostile aircraft is a scandalous exposure of the failure of successive governments to invest adequately in our Defence Forces and our defence capacity. Considering the importance of this issue and the fact that this long-standing agreement we are told of has never been subject to even a Dáil debate, never mind Dáil approval, will the Government allow for urgent statements and a debate on the matter in the House this week, please?

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