John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

There is doubt about whether there were prisoners on board because we have not checked. This is the issue. I say directly to the Minister that these planes landed and refuelled at Shannon. Did the Government facilitate this? I find it difficult to believe it did not. The Government must have known. Amnesty International has a list of CIA plans as long as one's arm. Is the Government saying it did not know? If the Government knew nothing it stands indicted of negligence, incompetence and culpable ignorance. If it did know it is guilty of straightforward collusion. We need some commitments from the Government.

Will the Government maintain and update a register of aircraft operators whose planes have been implicated in rendition flights and require them to provide detailed information before allowing them landing or flyover rights? I have a list from Amnesty International of CIA planes and their registration numbers.

Recently I travelled to the United States and had to go through some rigmarole to get in. We should demand the same from the United States. Irish people are finger printed at Shannon. Why are Americans not put through the same wringer? This is only something we should expect. Will the Minister ensure the detailed information includes the full flight plan of the aircraft, including onward stops and full itinerary, full names and nationalities of all passengers on board and the purposes of their travel? If any passengers are listed as prisoners or detainees, more detailed information about their status and the status of their flight should be required, including their destination. Will the Minister refuse access to airfields and airspace if the requested information is not provided?

Regarding diplomatic assurances, as they have become known, will the Minister make these assurances, or the correspondence comprising such assurances, public as Amnesty International has requested? Up to now that request has been refused. Will he affirm that such assurances are not an effective substitute for the Irish State's responsibility to exercise due diligence in the prevention, investigation and punishment of violations of international human rights law? Will the Minister and the Government disown any arguments that the Irish State's economic and diplomatic interests in maintaining good relationships with the United States should be the paramount interest here? Will he state clearly that international law and human rights standards must be upheld and that statements made by Senators from his party, when an investigation by the Seanad into CIA flights was scuppered earlier in the year by Fianna Fáil Senators, are not reflective of official practice? Did Senators Dooley and Mooney reflect Government policy when they claimed a select committee on the matter would "insult a friendly nation" and that it would be "extremely dangerous" to the relationship between this country and America to challenge what was going on and that jobs and economic interests would be jeopardised? This is what they said and that is at the root of it. This is why the Government has turned a blind eye to human rights abuses.

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