David Norris (Independent)

Since yesterday, we have been in possession of information stating that the British Government, despite its repeated denials of the use of its bases for rendition, has been involved in such a process. The following three flights are of interest to this House because they were routed back through Shannon. Flight N313P arrived from Brize Norton at 10.15 on 19 October 2003, departed to Tripoli at 13.00, arrived from Tripoli at 15.35 on 22 October, departed to Tripoli at noon on 28 October, arrived from Tripoli at 17.10 on 29 October and departed to Shannon. Flight N379P arrived from Islamabad at 15.50 on 18 October 2002, departed to Washington at 9.00 on 20 October, arrived from Amman at 12.50 on 16 January 2003, departed to Shannon at 10.00. Flight N8068V arrived from Marrakesh at 12.10 on 15 May 2004, departed to Luton at 13.00, arrived from Luton at 11.05 on 17 May and departed to Shannon at 8 a.m. The sole purpose of these airplanes was rendition of illegally kidnapped victims and we facilitated that by refuelling those airplanes at Shannon.

The Human Rights Commission, on 23 December last, called on the State to inspect flights into Shannon. This is not just a group of cranks on the backbenches of Seanad Éireann. I will now turn to the response of the Government to the Marty committee. We were told that inspection was not necessary because it was duplication. As a result of a complaint I made to the Garda Commissioner, I was visited by two detective superintendents. They told me, and I confirmed it this afternoon, that the Garda has no power to enter these aircraft in these conditions because of the way the UN convention on torture was incorporated into Irish law. The Government said something totally contradictory in this report, so which is correct?