asked the Minister for Justice the total cost of the recent trial of the British SAS soldiers; and the number of troops, the number and types of vehicles, the number of aircraft and the number of gardaí involved in the operation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - SAS Trial Cost.
21.
It would be contrary to well-established practice to give details of the personnel or equipment involved in a particular security operation or to disclose information which could be used to quantify the deployment of manpower and resources in such an operation.
As regards the cost of the trial, it would be extremely difficult and time-consuming to ascertain this, having regard to the wide variety of the elements of expenditure that would need to be assessed. It can safely be assumed, however, that by far the biggest item in the cost was the cost of the necessary security measures and, accordingly, even if there were no practical problem in ascertaining those costs, it would I believe be invidious and inappropriate for me to publish them. The Deputy may take it that the security measures were those which in the professional judgment of those charged with responsibility for operational security were judged to be necessary to discharge our clear obligations in the particular circumstances that had arisen.
In regard to the part of the Minister's reply which says it would be contrary to security to give the information sought in the question, surely the Minister must accept that this argument is no longer valid? He should not forget that all information with regard to the strength of our Army was released in a document by his colleague, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, to a labour unit in his constituency a short time ago.
The overall strength of the Army is a matter of public knowledge, but what I am asked is the number of troops, type of vehicles and so on used in that operation. What I say is that to disclose that information so as to quantify that deployment of manpower and resources could be detrimental to security.
The fact that the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs said the Irish Army could not hold the town of Newry for any longer than a couple of hours is something the people have not forgotten. However, may I say that the Minister's argument is still not valid, because any of us who were on the dual carriageway on any one of the days on which these SAS people were being brought to the court could easily counts for himself the number of trucks on the road. Therefore it would be better for the Minister to give a more accurate picture of what is involved rather than to have people guessing.
It would be a simple matter to count the vehicles in the convoy, coming from Baldonnel Airport to the Special Criminal Court, but that was not the end of the operation; there were other men and vehicles involved.
The remaining questions will appear on the Order Paper for the next sitting day of the Dáil.