Any safety measures proposed by the team investigating an Air Corps helicopter crash last July in which four personnel were killed would be implemented as a matter of priority, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said.

He said a draft final report of the team would be ready for circulation to each department by the end of next March and the report would be published within approximately 12 months of the accident.

"All aircraft in the Air Corps undergo regular maintenance and overhauls to ensure that they are fully airworthy," he added.

Mr Smith said a military court of inquiry had been convened to inquire into the circumstances of the accident. Its main thrust would be both the examination of the report of the air accident investigation unit of the Department of Public Enterprise and the coroner's report.

The Labour Party's spokesman on defence, Mr Jack Wall, asked the Minister whether there was a letter on the Department's records from a senior Air Corps engineer warning that flying equipment in the Dauphin helicopter was obsolete fewer than six months before the crash.

Mr Smith said the investigation was ongoing and a military court of inquiry was being established. "The expert people who are dealing with that will have available to them all of the papers, all of the experience with the help of international expertise as well, to determine what was the cause or causes of the accident. I think the deputy would appreciate that in that climate, in that circumstance, and at this time, it would not be very appropriate for a Minister to make any comment about other comments that are made by individuals either before or after the accident."