Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

The Minister of State referred to the investigations on extraordinary renditions that have been set up the Council of Europe and the European Parliament and said that it "is difficult to see what value an additional inquiry here would add to these investigations". I have just read the working document of the temporary committee of the European Parliament on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners, which directly contradicts what the Minister of State said. The working document of the committee states:

On the basis of the answers given to the Council of Europe, EU National Parliaments and Parliaments of relevant third countries should be invited, through their committees responsible for the Control of Secret Services, to answer the questions contained in the Temporary Committee mandate:

i. Has the CIA carried out rendition flights and torture on EU territory, including acceding candidate and associated countries?

ii. Have EU citizens or citizens from acceding candidate and associated countries been abducted?

iii. Were Member States' authorities aware, informed or complicit?

iv. Have EU/EC law, national legislation, international/bilateral conventions been violated?

Not only does the mandate envisage the committee liaising with national parliaments but that Ireland will have its own committee to inquire into the subject matter. It also states, "Furthermore, the Presidents of National Parliaments should be invited to provide information on current or past parliamentary enquires on the matters provided by the Temporary Committee mandate". Assuming the Taoiseach is the "president" of our Parliament, he will send a representative to the committee to provide information on our current and past parliamentary inquiries on the matters covered by the temporary committee mandate. The committee proposed in the motion has already been foreseen by the temporary committee's mandate.

What the Minister of State said is undermined by the temporary committee's mandate. He claimed the Council of Europe report shows Ireland's practice is fully in line with that of all partners, and does nothing to undermine the value of the factual, categorical and unqualified assurances that we have received from the United States authorities. The Council of Europe report actually contradicts the Minister's statement. When Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, launched the report, he said, "These obligations are of a positive nature, which means that the member states are obliged to actively prevent such human rights violations from taking place, and not simply react if they stumble upon them accidentally".

The report did pick up on Ireland. It claimed states are not systematically requested to provide passenger lists or cargo information, even though they could be. Terry Davis has stated the work of the report is not the end of the process but the beginning. For all countries involved, legal safeguards, frameworks, etc., need to be put in place. The taking away of personal liberty must be made a criminal offence. A legal framework must be introduced for the activities of foreign agents.

As Senator Brian Hayes pointed out, the ongoing work of the Council of Europe report will require the Oireachtas to do its job as a legislative body. It may well require us to put in place additional legislative provisions. If the proposed committee is established, it will inform our work as legislators. The Minister of State trusts Senators will agree that there is no reason to change Government policy in this area. The motion proposes for Members to do their work.

It is not a radical proposal; it has to do with reform. Although there are calls for the Seanad to be abolished, it is recognised that it has done important work in the past. It is absurd that Government Senators will not agree to this motion because they could well be doing themselves out of a job.

At the launch of the Council of Europe report Terry Davis stated:

. . . hardly any country, with the clear exception of Hungary, has any legal provisions to ensure an effective oversight over the activities of foreign security services on their territory. In Hungary, the competent authorities are instructed by law to detect any activities of foreign secret services interfering with or threatening the sovereignty, or the political, economic or other important interest of Hungary.

There is evidence that such foreign service activity is occurring. If it was not a fact, these inquiries in the Council of Europe and the European Parliament would not have been conducted. If such activity is going on in Ireland, it undermines our sovereignty in a unilateral way. The Government is ceding our sovereignty to the United States.