Government to decide on armed air marshals

The Government will consider applications by airlines seeking to have armed undercover police on passenger flights using airports in the State, the Department of Transport said today.

Responding to the announcement by the British government that undercover air marshals will be on board some flights, a spokesman for the Department said consultations between the British and Irish authorities had been ongoing about the issue for the last 12 months.

The option of using armed guards on Irish airlines "had been looked at once or twice" by the National Civil Aviation Security Committee, he said.

This committee includes representatives from the Garda, the Department of Justice, the Defence Forces, Aer Rianta and Irish airlines.

The spokesman said in most cases the armed marshals on British airlines would be on transatlantic routes. However, in the event a carrier serving a route between the Republic and Britain wanted to use air marshals, "it was understood that we [the Irish authorities] would be consulted".

A decision on any such request could only be taken by Government, he added.

The move comes as the US government today brought forward emergency legislation to oblige foreign airlines to place armed marshals on selected flights to and from the US in a bid to boost security.

The Department of Homeland Security issued the aviation emergency orders to further boost security on passenger and cargo aircraft flying to, from and over the United States.

The new measures go into effect immediately. They give Homeland Security the authority to require armed security officers on international aircraft traveling in US airspace.

A spokesman for Aer Lingus said the company was aware of the new measures but that at the moment it had not been asked to alter its operations.

Armed air marshals disguised as passengers are already deployed on thousands of US airline flights each week in an effort to prevent another September 11th, 2001. The British Airline Pilots' Association is opposed to the move, saying that having weapons on an aircraft is dangerous.