Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses talk in terms of showing leadership to ensure the EU focuses on implementing the Amnesty International policies on human rights defenders. Part of the difficulty is that the EU has a favourable status with many of the regimes around the world in which torture and human rights abuses are going on. What do the witnesses suggest the Irish Presidency do about this? The area that springs to my mind is the Middle East and relations between Palestine and Israel on illegal settlements. Do the witnesses have a view on the banning of settlement goods?

Also raised in the document provided is the issue of the disappearance of people, and there is a reference to the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances. A recent document on rendition raised the issue of people who disappeared and supposedly went through Irish airports. The Tánaiste made the point that this information added nothing new.

Three individuals subject to rendition have stated they transited through Shannon Airport. What additional measures could the Government take to address this issue? If flights organised by the CIA or other organisations are passing through Irish airports, should gardaí board the aircraft in question and carry out inspections? Apart from implementing the convention, what else can the Government do?