Middle East
Dail Éireann — 2024-06-27
============================================================

Cathal Berry (IND), Kildare South

I thank the Tánaiste. I appreciate the response. It is reassuring to know there is a citizens' register in Lebanon. The Tánaiste may not have these details to hand, but approximately how many Irish citizens are there? Are we talking hundreds or thousands?
An interim arrangement is in place in case the Government needs a jet to go to Brussels or wherever, as is completely appropriate. Has consideration been given to extending that interim arrangement to have some kind of aircraft available to get to Beirut if necessary?
In case civilian airspace is closed and only military aircraft are allowed to land in Beirut, has consideration been given to preparing an Air Corps aircraft on the military register to be able to be deployed if appropriate or if it becomes necessary?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-06-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-06-27