Cement is one of the items which Israel has banned from entering Gaza as it worries that cement can be used to build bunkers, tunnels and rockets, but it has recently allowed some shipments for specific civilian building projects. The aid-laden ship was checked for weapons in Ireland by customs officials and a senator from the Irish Green Party. No weapons were found. Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Brian Cowen called on Israel to allow the passage of the Rachel Corrie. Ireland later reached an agreement with Israel and made a proposal to the ship that it divert to Ashdod, where Israel offered to transfer its cargo to the Gaza Strip, under the supervision of passengers and Irish diplomats. The passengers of the ship rejected the proposal. Israel reported its troops had taken control of the ship on 5 June, about 16 nautical miles (30 km) off the coast. An IDF spokeswoman said there "was full compliance from the crew and passengers on board". Former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Denis Halliday, aboard the Rachel Corrie, expressed concern that some of these humanitarian goods would likely be seized if the MV Rachel Corrie accepted "an offer of an escort to another port". The cargo, although it all falls within the remit of humanitarian aid as defined by the United Nations, "would be confiscated by the Israelis, given that they do not define this as humanitarian goods – in breach of the UN definition of same". Prior to the ship's last leg of its journey, Denis Halliday requested a final inspection of the cargo: "We are calling on the UN to inspect the cargo and escort us into Gaza, and to send a UN representative to sail on board before they enter the exclusion zone". Trade unions and government officials had previously inspected the cargo, "so we are 100 percent confident that there is nothing that is offensive or dangerous", he told Israel's Channel 2 Television. Passengers and crew There were eleven passengers on board the ship: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maireád Corrigan-Maguire, former UN Assistant Secretary-General Denis Halliday, film maker Fiona Thompson, husband and wife Derek and Jenny Graham and six Malaysian citizens. The Malaysian members were: Member of the Parliament of Malaysia, for the Parit constituency, Mohd Nizar Zakaria; Perdana Global Peace Organisation representatives, Shamsul Akmar, Matthias Chang and Ahmad Faizal Azumu ; TV3 reporter Halim Mohamed and TV3 cameraman Jufri