asked the Minister for Defence if he will give a full detailed report on the arms seizure at Dublin Airport.
54.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Arms Consignments.
53.
asked the Minister for Defence if his attention has been drawn to reports of 28th May that a consignment of arms had arrived at Dublin Airport from Frankfurt; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
55.
asked the Minister for Defence if an Aer Lingus plane carried a consignment of arms into Dublin Airport recently; and if so, (a) the types of arms, (b) to whom were they consigned and (c) from where were they dispatched.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 54 and 55 together.
In 1968 two FN rifles and one FN MAG. machine gun with four magazines and four ammunition belts were dispatched by the Department of Defence to a firm in Vienna for test-firing of ammunition, a contract for which had been placed with the firm. The weapons were returned by the firm and arrived by air freight at Dublin Airport on 27th May last. As advance notification of the return of the weapons had not been received, the consignment was held by the Garda Síochána until the documents necessary for customs clearance had been prepared. The weapons which arrived were formally identified by representatives of the Department of Defence on 28th May as being the weapons which had been sent to Vienna in 1968 and the clearance formalities were duly completed on the same date.
Will the Minister not agree that it is coincidental that the weapons should have been sent to the same place from whence arms were imported here?
I am not prepared to comment.
Is the Minister seriously suggesting that it took two years to repair arms sent either to Vienna or Frankfurt——
It is like Grimm's fairytales.
Does the Minister really expect that the people of this country will believe that story? When will we have the entire truth about the amount of arms imported here in the last year?
That does not arise on this question.
It certainly does arise——
The question relates to one consignment of arms at Dublin Airport.
Will the Minister say whether there is an armoury attached to the Army, with first-class armourers who carry out this kind of work? Will the Minister tell us why it was found necessary to send arms to Frankfurt which normally would be repaired in the field?
These arms were not sent for repair but for test-firing of ammunition purchased in Vienna. This is normal practice and they were returned to Dublin Airport without advance notification.
Two years later?
Is the Minister saying that in order to test-fire ammunition it it necessary to send it back to the manufacturers? Has the testing which was formerly carried out at Magazine Fort and at Gormanston been discontinued?
I understand this is normal practice.
If the Minister were a little longer in office he would understand that it is not normal practice.
Is the Minister seriously expecting the House to believe what he has just told us—that it has taken two years to send two Army weapons to Vienna for fire-testing of ammunition? It is altogether too much to expect that this story will be believed.
I have given the House a true account.