Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I support the motion. The Council of Europe report refers to secret and unlawful inter-state transfers of prisoners but the Government amendment bases its case solely on assurances from the United States that unlawful transfers have not happened and do not happen on Irish territory and that they would not do such a thing without our permission. This is totally contradictory and farcical. If something is secret and unlawful would those involved readily admit to it? Would they seek our permission to do it? What a load of nonsense. This is what the Government amendment terms "all appropriate steps to ensure that the territory and facilities of this State are not used for...human rights violations". How ironic that the dishonesty of the United States authorities and the meaninglessness of our Government's disposition was exposed yesterday by a vigilant cleaner who discovered the manacled prisoner on a US plane at Shannon.

The Government is contemplating reinvigorating verification procedures when such procedures simply do not exist. The only way to deal effectively with this important issue as the motion states is to introduce an appropriate regime of inspection of aircraft at Shannon. Why has the Government been so reluctant to do this? Why all the meaningless lip service? Is the Irish Government reluctant to offend the United States? The failure of the Government to act decisively on this issue already amounts to passive collusion. If rendition is not happening, if there is nothing to hide, what is the problem with an inspection regime?

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