Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There has been much denial about Ireland's role in facilitating the US war machine, but a WikiLeaks revelation from December 2007 showed the US ambassador congratulating the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Dermot Ahern, on his staunch rejection of the Irish Human Rights Commission's recommendation that the Government inspect aircraft suspected to have been involved in rendition flights. Ahern suggested that the US ambassador personally engage with the Fine Gael leadership to explain the United States position on running extraordinary rendition flights through Shannon. There is little doubt.

The Minister seems to think that because Margaretta D'Arcy did something wrong by encroaching on the runway in Shannon she deserves to be in jail for three months, even at 79 years of age. Does she deserve to be in jail more than George Bush junior or Tony Blair, who lied in order to start a war in which more than a million people have died? Is Margaretta D'Arcy's crime greater than theirs? The Minister and I know that they will not be in jail. Should she be in jail before them?

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