Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I have raised this issue before. As the Minister has said this evening and on the previous occasion, under Irish air navigation law, the carriage of munitions is prohibited on any civil aircraft and failure to comply carries up to three years' imprisonment. The operators of these flights seem to think the Government has zero intention of upholding the law, unlike the Belgian Government, which opened a criminal investigation following the reporting of it. Why is the Government not doing the same? Seven months in such a serious situation is far too long. What is the Minister's view of what the then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said to the public accounts committee when the issue was brought up? He said the Garda was not made aware of these flights and that it had no information that could lead to checks on the airline involved. Does the Minister believe that is the case and that the Garda had no information? If so, will he talk to his colleagues in government in relation to it? The email, I am told, was acknowledged at the time.

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