‘Ireland lax on terror threat’

A SECURITY firm which breeds dogs trained by the British police to sniff out explosives claims Irish authorities are not taking the al-Qaida threat seriously.

Joe Blake, who runs Cork-based Virtual Security, said he can’t keep pace with demand for such dogs from Britain and knows people in the trade who are having similar experiences with American agencies.

Yet he has complained that Ireland has not prepared itself for a back-door threat to either the USA or Britain by deploying more of these dogs at ports and airports. Mr Blake, who was recently presented with security awards by the Minister for State at the Department of Enterprise, Michael Ahern, told the junior minister of his views.