Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

I support the Minister of State's words on what Ireland can do to alleviate the situation in Iraq. It is not for me to go into the detail of what happened but it is well-established that action had to be taken to rid Iraq of SaddamHussein's tyranny. The action taken was justified and has been successful up to a point. It is important the international community finds ways to support the new Government so that law and order can be restored as quickly as possible. The situation is presently out of control and unless serious action is taken it is likely to drift into civil war.

I will briefly refer to the issue of American planes going through Shannon Airport. I condemn the attacks made on the airport by a small minority of people who do not represent the views of the people of the Shannon region. This small minority engaged in criminality, breaking down perimeter fences, damaging planes and causing general mayhem in the vicinity of the airport. They had no local or national support. The successful policy on Shannon has been followed by successive Governments over a long number of years.

The American authorities have nothing to fear from inspections on flights going through Shannon. American planes apply for permission through the diplomatic service to use the airport and in my opinion its position would be strengthened if it allowed the Irish airport authorities to inspect planes, especially in light of unsubstantiated claims made that prisoners were transported through the airport. It is important that American authorities take note of that and work with the Irish authorities to ensure that confidence is maintained in the airport.