Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The number of flights works out at one a day and I find it hard to credit that we are so lax about what goes on down there. As the Defence Forces have been there so often, did they take any steps to establish whether the military aircraft were transporting weapons or munitions to one or other of the belligerents in the civil wars in progress in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq? If not, why not?

Will the Minister of State comment on the presence of a US government jet with the tail number N977GA at Shannon airport? This jet was previously used by CIA rendition flights, as recorded at Shannon Airport a number of times by the Shannonwatch group. Recent media reports stated that the jet left Washington on the same night that Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong, with the hope of picking him up in the event Russia did not grant him asylum. Does the Minister of State agree that simply relying on diplomatic assurances from the US with regard to rendition flights is not sufficient to comply with the State's obligations to prevent torture, prohibit ill-treatment taking place in its territory or airspace and ensure its territory is not used to facilitate extraordinary rendition?

See this speech in context