Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister changes post, I wish him well. Everyone else has wished him luck and I would not like to be the one left out. The Minister has always been very straight with me in answering questions.

In debates on this Bill, we have dealt with Shannon and pensions. However, there is an issue associated with Shannon Airport that most people find morally unacceptable, including me and my party. There are flights to Shannon that are not properly checked. People have actually been taken from their countries in other parts of the world and brought to certain locations via our airports. This is just unacceptable, and it is a breach of international law and our neutrality. No matter how one dresses it up, that is how it appears.

Amendments Nos. 19 to 23 would strengthen how Shannon Airport is monitored, how aeroplanes are examined and how people are authorised to do their work. It is very important that there be proper procedures for ensuring there is no human trafficking, smuggling, kidnapping or illegal transportation of people. The amendments provide supports for victims of breaches.

It is not appropriate that Shannon Airport receives revenue from allowing rendition flights. The Minister mentioned before that we honestly do not know what is on the aeroplanes. Obviously, members of the Garda and the airport police cannot gain access to the aeroplanes. We can only go by what people are telling us, which is that not only civilians are being transported but also weapons and troops. By any stretch of the imagination, one would be considered an ally of a country, be it at war or otherwise, if one were assisting it in this regard by allowing its personnel on one's soil to transport people from another state through one's airports. The Minister stated there are already checks and balances at Shannon Airport, but the only reason we do not check the flights is that the United States is an ally. That is not a sufficiently good reason for not checking the flights and adhering to proper international best practice. Whether the Minister likes it or not, the vast majority of people in Ireland have serious concerns and are pretty angry.

They might not be out on the streets or going to jail like the 80 year old woman, Margaretta D'Arcy, but I am convinced that the vast majority of people in this country are quite angry that we allow this to happen. Whatever arrangement or deal the Government has made, I do not believe it is acceptable and I do not believe Members accept it.

We have an opportunity in this Bill, through these amendments, to insert some extra rules and provide some type of regulation to deal with what and who is on these aeroplanes. Many of these people have been taken away from their families in other countries, moved from one country to another, landed on our soil and then taken to what are effectively internment camps. Whether they are guilty or not is not the issue. The issue is that we are accepting them on our soil, so therefore we are as guilty as those who are landing them on our soil. That is how I and many other people view it.

It is a breach of our neutrality and nobody can tell me otherwise. I cannot imagine anybody believing it is not a breach of our neutrality. We constantly say we are a neutral country, yet we allow this to happen. The amendments are quite reasonable and strengthen the system for how the Garda and the airport police deal with people in our airports. It is good that we should do that. It is time we revisited the issue of these rendition flights. It is no good telling me that there are fewer such flights. The reality is that if there is only one, it is a shame on us.

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