Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I welcome the Minister's unequivocal condemnation of torture, his opposition to Guantanamo Bay and his support for the UN Secretary General's comments on the report. Does the Minister agree, however, that there is no legal basis for the Guantanamo facility, no legal protection for the detainees there and that a massive abuse of human rights is involved?

As regards the suggested war against terrorism, does the Minister agree that the redefinition of torture is a mitigation of the relevant international protections? In the press release accompanying the extensive questionnaire which the Minister sent to the Council of Europe following the article 52 request as to what was taking place in Shannon, he stated that the Garda Síochána has the right to inspect such planes at Shannon. However, senior gardaí have informed me and Senator Norris that under the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act 2000 they do not have the right to enter and inspect aircraft or to arrest anybody in connection with the issue of torture. They suggest that they have no such powers under the aforementioned Act. The reply to the questionnaire stated that three cases have been investigated but they were investigated second-hand by talking to cleaners and others who serviced the aircraft. Gardaí are under the impression and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is ruling that under the 2000 Act they do not have the right to enter such aircraft.

The press release affirms that the Garda Síochána can inspect such planes. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has said that he is against the use of torture and I accept that he is. However, the attitude of the Garda Síochána and, as I understand it, the DPP's office, is that the 2000 Act, which inserted the United Nations Convention Against Torture into Irish law, does not allow gardaí to enter any civil aircraft in Shannon or elsewhere.

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