It is amazing how time flies. Next week is the anniversary of a useful exchange the Tánaiste and I had in the Dáil Chamber in Leinster House during a debate on the lack of strategic airlift capability in this country. I remember being quite heartened by the Tánaiste's response at the time. He specifically said:

Military air transport is a real weakness for us. We are unusual as a country, in that we cannot get to our own troops in Lebanon or in Mali. We rely on commercial aircraft or the defence forces of other countries. That works, but it is suboptimal in my view.

The Tánaiste then went on to say he would get the Chief of Staff to make policy proposals and give formal advice to his office on how best to proceed with this proposed project. Now that a year has passed it is prudent that we should review any progress in this regard because, on the surface at least, there does not appear to have been any major events, bar the pandemic. We have had difficulty getting PPE into the country, we have had troops and citizens stranded overseas and Ireland is transporting a lot of oxygen and oxygen equipment to India, which is a fantastic thing to do. Also, by year end, it is likely that if we have surplus vaccines, we will be transporting them to resource poor countries all over the world.

As an island nation in particular and as a sovereign state, the case that Ireland should have this sovereign independent autonomous capability is self-evident. It is particularly obvious this year because the cost of aircraft is on the floor. We could get a propeller-driven Airbus 295 type aircraft for less than €20 million if it is picked up second hand or almost new. That would represent massive savings for the taxpayer over time and we would not have to be chartering commercial aircraft on an ad hoc basis at very short notice.

Has the Chief of Staff furnished advice or recommendations to the Office of the Tánaiste? Is the Tánaiste prepared to publish the advice of the Chief of Staff for the benefit of the House so we can all see what is contained in it? Is the Government prepared to consider acquiring a strategic airlift aircraft before this year is out, if financial circumstances allow?

I have not changed my mind on this since last year. I still think it is a weakness that our Defence Forces do not have an aircraft available at all times that could get our troops out of Lebanon in a hurry if we had to, carry out a major evacuation of Irish citizens from somewhere in the world if we had to, or to have an aircraft available that could, for example, bring supplies such as personal protective equipment, PPE, into the country at short notice were it needed. We are reliant on commercial operators and other countries to assist us in this regard.

At the time, the Chief of Staff did provide a position paper. That was last year when I was Taoiseach. It was a position paper relating to the acquisition of a strategic airlift aircraft as a concept, but this project was not put forward onto the civil military five-year equipment development plan in the list of identified equipment priorities. I suppose, essentially, there were other priorities that may have had a higher order in the view of the Defence Forces. The publication of that report is a matter for the Minister for Defence. However, as with all capital investment decisions, the requirements of the public spending code and all the various steps required in informing a decision to proceed in a project life cycle would need to be met and set out by the Defence Forces for any such project to proceed to decision-making and public investment in any additional aircraft.

The equipment priorities for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service are being considered in the context of the lifetime of the White Paper on Defence as part of the capability development and equipment development planning process. The five-year equipment development plan for the continued re-equipment was developed on a civil-military basis and was published in 2020. In this context, the principal aim over the period of the White Paper is to replace and upgrade as required existing capabilities to retain a flexible response for a wide range of operational requirements at home and overseas. Budget 2021 provides a capped allocation of €131 million for investment in defence equipment and barracks and will enable continued investment in major equipment platforms. The increased capital funding for 2021 builds on increased levels of capital expenditure totalling €292 million over the years 2018 to 2020.

With regard to airbase capability, the immediate identified aircraft equipment priorities have been the acquisition of three Pilatus PC-12 aircraft for an intelligence surveillance target acquisition and reconnaissance, ISTAR, role and for two Airbus C295 for maritime patrol replacing the Cessnas. An additional PC-12 was acquired in response to the Covid-19 situation.

I thank the Tánaiste for the response. I welcome the acquisition of two new CASA 295 maritime patrol aircraft in 2023. What I would say is that they are to be for maritime patrol and should be used exclusively for that purpose, especially given the fact we have two ghost ships in Cork because the Naval Service cannot put them to sea because of a crewing problem. We still very much need a utility transport aircraft for this purpose, particularly because the pandemic is still raging throughout the country and the world. We need to have this autonomous flexibility and capability. I would be grateful if the Tánaiste could raise this with the Minister for Defence and consider publishing the advice of the Chief of Staff for the benefit of the entire House.

I will definitely raise it with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney. As I said earlier, my mind has not changed on this matter but I appreciate that funds are limited and there may be other higher priorities, such as, for example, maritime patrol, search and rescue and the modernisation and replacement of existing equipment. Having read the report, although it was a year ago, I do not see any reason it could not be published. I do not recall there being anything of national security sensitivity in it. Again, I would have to leave that to the discretion of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, as to whether it is appropriate to do so.