Vol. 510 No. 5
97 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the proposals, if any, she has to reconvene the National Civil Aviation Security Committee in view of the armed robbery at Dublin Airport; the reason this committee has not met on a regular basis; if all the recommendations of the Finlay report in the 1970s into airport security have been implemented; if not, the reason in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22995/99]
The purpose of the National Civil Aviation Security Committee is to oversee security arrangements at Irish airports with a view to preventing attacks against civil aviation targets, that is, the hijacking of an aircraft. It meets on a regular basis, and most recently convened on 25 May last.
The incident to which the Deputy refers does not fall into the category of incident with which the national committee is primarily concerned. However, a meeting of the committee, which is chaired by my Department, will be convened shortly to discuss what general lessons, if any, regarding security at Dublin Airport emerge from the investigation.
The recommendations of the Finlay report were published in 1974 and were broadly implemented at the time. The measures currently applied in this area are those effected through the national civil aviation security programme which sets out comprehensive aviation security standards in line with international guidelines and current best practice.
