Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Will the Taoiseach take any steps to be satisfied and reassure the Irish public that this is not happening? There is no point in saying that he is opposed to it. The question is whether the Government is trying to find out whether it is happening.

The United States is a friendly government that misled the Taoiseach, who seems to have been a willing dupe in the matter of the excuse for invading Iraq in the first place. There were no weapons of mass destruction but we were assured there were. We were treated to a presentation at the United Nations as to the location of the weapons of mass destruction. They did not exist.

Why should we, merely because we are talking about a friendly government, in light of the stature of the organisations I have quoted who say one cannot rely on diplomatic assurance alone, continue to rely on diplomatic assurance? Does the Government intend to cause any steps to be taken to establish whether extraordinary rendition is happening here? My understanding of what Dr. Rice said is that she neither confirmed nor denied that prisoners are being transported through Shannon Airport. She denied that they were being transported for the purpose of torture.

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