Madam, - I watched the Easter military parade in Dublin and I was very impressed by the professional display put on by the Army. In the last week we had two incidents which required Irish aircraft to be escorted to a designated airport in the UK by the RAF. If we had a similar incident in Irish air space, what aircraft would we scramble to investigate? Where is our designated airport? Who is patrolling our airspace? It is clear that the Air Corps do not have the aircraft to do so.
Is it not ironic, and an indication of political priorities in this country, that the only jet aircraft in service in the Air Corps are the two used by the Taoiseach and his ministers as taxis? - Yours, etc,
JIM FORDE, Grange, Douglas, Cork.