HC Deb 18 March 1998 vol 308 cc629-30W
Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the new evidence he has received concerning the involvement of a second aircraft in the crash of an Aer Lingus Viscount in the Irish Sea on 24 March 1968. [34809]

Dr. Reid

[holding answer 17 March 1998]: I have received no new evidence about the involvement of a second aircraft in the crash of the Aer Lingus Viscount in the Irish Sea on 24 March 1968.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received, and discussions he has had, concerning the Aer Lingus Viscount crash in the Irish Sea on 24 March 1968; and if he will undertake to discuss the matter with his counterparts in the Irish Government. [34812]

Dr. Reid

[holding answer 17 March 1998]: The Ministry of Defence has received a number of questions from the media and a letter from the Celtic League on this subject. I have not received representations from the Irish Government, but would be happy to respond if there were to be any.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the exercises in the Irish Sea on the day of the Aer Lingus Viscount crash in March 1968; if RAF or other aircraft participating in those exercises are recorded as having been lost; and if United Kingdom naval vessels picked up any person, dead or alive, from the Irish Sea on the day of the crash. [34881]

Dr. Reid

[holding answer 17 March 1998]: There is no indication of any UK military exercise in the Irish Sea on the day of the crash. No person, dead or alive, was picked up by British naval vessels in the Irish Sea on that day.