Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I rose on 4 April regarding an alleged agreement between the Irish and British authorities regarding the permission for the RAF to overfly airspace. This matter was raised again in the Dáil on 12 April by Deputy Clare Daly and again on 2 May by Deputy Marc McSharry. In his reply the Minister at best side-stepped the issue and at worst he misled the House. I appreciate that matters of national security cannot be disclosed in a general way to the public but it beggars belief that the two agencies in this country charged with national security, the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces, and the general officer commanding the Air Corps, who is statutorily charged with being the sole director of military aviation in Ireland, have not been a party to this agreement, if an agreement exists.

Apart from the major constitutional and legislative issues this raises, the denial by the Government that such an agreement exists of itself creates a national security risk. It does so because none of the key security players are included or have knowledge of the agreement. If there is an incident, what would the potential military response be? Who would co-ordinate it? Who will respond with the speed necessary to avert a major security incident?

If there is no agreement, what emergency security arrangements are in place? Will the response to a civil aviation security incident in our territorial airspace be political, executive or military in nature? It is widely known in the UK RAF circles that this agreement exists. This is causing unwarranted public humiliation for Defence Force and Air Corps personnel who are on courses overseas. I am asking for an open debate in the interest of national security. If there is an agreement between the Irish State and the British state regarding the RAF overflying our airspace, then it needs to be brought to the Oireachtas. The Oireachtas is the sole body of this state charged with oversight of such matters. If such an agreement exists without Oireachtas oversight, then there are serious constitutional issues involved here.

This is a difficult issue but the dogs in the street are howling that this agreement exists. It has been in every media that I care to look at. It is all over the UK that this agreement exists and we are pretending that it does not.This is grossly unfair to those charged with national security management - the Garda and the Defence Forces - and it is a grave insult to the head of the Air Corps, who is the sole person statutorily charged with the management of our airspace for military purposes. I ask that this be brought into the open. If it cannot be discussed in this Chamber or the Lower House, it should be brought to the joint committee dealing with defence mattersin camera, if necessary, but let us have this dealt with once and for all.