asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will consider as a solution to the international aircraft hijacking problem an international convention where all countries who are party thereto would refuse asylum to hijackers and, with the co-operation of the Airline Pilots' Association, would enforce a blacking of all countries who refuse to sign such a convention; and if he will take steps to institute discussions on such a convention.

The Irish delegation to the current 32nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly has co-sponsored a draft resolution which has three main elements: first, a call to all states to take the necessary steps, taking into account the relevant recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, to prevent acts of aerial hijacking or other wrongful interference with civil air travel; second, an appeal to those states, which have not yet done so, to become parties to the three international conventions dealing with air offences; and third, a request to the International Civil Aviation Organisation to undertake urgently further efforts with a view to ensuring the security of air travel.

On the subject of suspension of airline services, a proposal was put forward at an Extraordinary Conference of ICAO held in Rome in 1973 to the effect that member states of ICAO should refuse facilities to the airlines of states which accepted or harboured hijackers. No agreement proved possible on this proposal. I do not consider that any useful purpose would be served by raising this or a similar proposal at this point.

May I ask the Minister why does he not consider that raising this matter again at the ICAO level might not be a good idea?

Yes, I shall put that to the Minister. There is no doubt about our bona fides in that area : we are totally committed to international governmental action and I shall put the Deputy's suggestion to the Minister.

In the light of the undoubted delay that seems to occur in regard to any matter raised at the UN, does the Minister accept that other steps in other areas should be taken to deal with this problem?

That is why I outlined in a previous reply the steps that are being taken within a Community framework to deal with it. Certainly, we can also pursue the matter with ICAO and I shall draw the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to what the Deputy suggests.

Does the Minister think this proposal might seem to be a reasonable solution to the problem?

We are prepared to pursue every possible proposal, with ICAO, with the United Nations and with the Community and within the framework of these organisations to which we belong to achieve the objective to which we fully subscribe, to ensure that this activity shall cease. It can only be stopped effectively by interGovernmental action on an agreed basis.