Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There have been a number of significant developments since I last asked the Taoiseach about the situation at Shannon Airport on 12 December. The Irish Human Rights Commission expressed its serious concern on 23 December. The interim report of Senator Marty has added to the concerns. During the Christmas recess, my colleague, Deputy Michael D. Higgins, uncovered two defence treaties that have not been laid before the House, even though they date back to January 2003 and February 2004. While the Minister for Defence has apologised for their not being laid before the House, they still were not laid before the House as at lunch time today.

There is acute concern here about what might be happening as a result of the Americans being facilitated at Shannon Airport in the process of what they call "extraordinary rendition". There is growing international concern about the same issue. It is a major issue in British politics, yet all that we can find out from our Government is that it has diplomatic assurances to the effect that "nothing untoward" is happening. How do we know that nothing untoward is happening? More and more of our citizens are asking whether our Government wants to know.

The State watchdog established by the Government said that reliance on diplomatic assurance is not sufficient to protect against the risk of torture and other forms of ill treatment. The UN Commissioner has made the same statement and the European Court of Human Rights made the same point.

Is it the case that civilian aircraft are being disguised for the purpose of extraordinary rendition travelling through Shannon Airport? If state aircraft are being disguised for CIA purposes, it is in breach of the Chicago Convention. On the other hand, if they are orthodox civilian aircraft, we may inspect them. Does the Taoiseach intend to take any steps to have such aircraft inspected on behalf of the Government to reassure the people that the process of extraordinary rendition, which is repulsive to our citizens, is not happening with our facilitation?

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