asked the Minister for Justice the up-to-date position in regard to the purchase of helicopters and light planes referred to in the £100 million crime package which he announced in September, 1980.
Ceisteanna — Questions Oral Answers - Helicopter and Light Plane Purchases.
5.
Examination of this matter is proceeding, but, as I explained in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 304 on 26 November last, a project of this nature is complex and requires detailed planning. In the meantime the Air Corps are providing helicopter and aircraft assistance for the Garda.
What funds have been made available to meet the escalating costs of £42 million?
I have first to see where the Deputy gets the figure of £42 million, but let me give him a very firm, definite, categorical assurance that whatever funds are needed to purchase the equipment in question will be provided by me from the Government.
What funds have been provided in the Estimates for the current year to meet this commitment?
The Deputy should take advice from some of his own party, who would explain to him the usage of a token Estimate of which I have the mechanism, the use of a token Estimate which has been provided by me under a separate subhead to cover whatever costs have to be met for the purchase of the aeroplanes and helicopters which will be bought.
In view of the fact that the Minister refuses to give the reply, I have to give it for him.
Do not give it for him. Will the Deputy ask a question, please?
Will the Minister explain, in the light of the fact that he refused to answer my question twice — I am taking his own figures from a radio interview of 5 September last — how he proposes to go ahead with the plan having provided the sum of £1,000 in the current Estimate?
The Deputy should know — and he would if he asked some of his more senior colleagues — the principle of a token Estimate. A year-and-a-half or two years ago, when I was bringing in the free legal aid scheme, a system which is now in operation, the same argument was put forward by the Deputy. I rejected it then and I reject it now. I am giving a guarantee that the moneys will be provided towards the aircraft which will be decided to be bought by the Gardaí.
In view of the fact that £1,000 would not buy toy helicopters or model planes, is the Minister serious about this? What has he done from the point of view of making arrangements for ordering these helicopters and planes and from the point of view of training, which takes time? After six months, what has he done, apart from tripping around Europe?
I have already explained that to the Deputy but he seems to ignore my reply. It is natural he would, because all the arguments he made today he made to the newspapers last week. I do not think the Deputy is interested in a truthful answer.