asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport if his Department received a warning of a possible bomb attack on an airline involving the use of semtex explosives disguised as marzipan; the precautions which have been introduced at Irish airports to deal with any such threat; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Security at Airports.
5.
The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is in the negative. A warning in this matter was conveyed directly to Aer Rianta who took immediate precautionary steps to deal with the situation.
I would prefer not to go into any further details because, as I have told the House before — and I am sure the House in its wisdom will understand this — policy has always been to give no details of specific security initiatives. Again, as I have said before, I believe this policy to be soundly based on the premise that giving such details might prove counterproductive.
I appreciate the Minister's position. I do not seek in any way to be inquisitive of detail but I do not accept that the House cannot be told anything. That is an attitude that has been well rehearsed and used by the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Defence, and leads to the annoyance of Members of this House. Have the Department or airport authorities expended any moneys on buying new equipment — I am not asking the type of equipment — but have steps of a concrete nature been taken to deal with what is now a very new, lethal and worrying dimension of terrorism in the air? Could the Minister give us some assurance that such steps have been taken? Lest I wrongly anticipate the Minister's reply, it would appear that in our neighbouring country, general information, indicating steps taken to improve security at airports, in particular at Heathrow, have been well publicised.
The Deputy is embarking on a speech.
I would hope the Minister could be a little more forthcoming than he has been.
Because of the terrible slip-ups in security at Heathrow the matter has been a major subject of controversy. I should like to tell the Deputy that in Aer Rianta we have one of the most efficient airport authorities — and they have proved that over the years — in Europe or elsewhere. They got information about the "marzipan" danger and took immediate steps to counteract it. In pressing me to give the House more details the Deputy is putting me in a false light. I would be more than anxious to reveal security measures to the House if I thought it was in the interests of security at airports but I cannot go further than ask the Deputy to accept that Aer Rianta, with their known and proven capacity as an airport operator, took steps necessary to deal with the information when they received it.
Could the Minister assure the House that Aer Rianta have a security system comparable to the best in the world in order to deal with the most sophisticated types of bombs now being placed on airliners?
I can assure Deputy Griffin that that is so.