Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Of course some of the issues the Minister mentioned are legitimate matters on which we must co-operate with other countries. However, there is a little more than that to the CIA. Does it not concern the Minister that the CIA is involved in illegal kidnapping, so-called renditions and has been involved in all sorts of manipulations in places such as the Middle East? It might well be involved in the activities of the Saudi regime, with which the US Government is so closely associated, in trying to crush a democratic movement in Bahrain. Are these the intelligence services we should mix with given that history? Why is there a requirement on delegates attending this conference not to write about their attendance or what takes place at the conference? There are to be no blogs about it and journalists are not allowed to attend. None of the content of the conference is allowed to emerge from it. Can the Minister explain why that is the case?

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