David Norris (Independent)

While I am pleased they have at last learned, it is a great pity that so many innocent civilians, including women and children, had to be slaughtered by these people. It is time they woke up. They are a disgrace to Europe, as are the provisional thugs.

I would like to have a debate on the privatisation of Aer Lingus, which was discussed yesterday by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport. It is clear that the answers given by the Government in the other House were until recently unsatisfactory and incorrect. There should be no difficulty about the State investing in Aer Lingus; we have invested in a number of other airlines, including British Airways. I do not understand why we should not invest in our own airline. It is a cause of concern to some of us that the person appointed to advise on the disastrous Eircom situation is now being invited by the Government to advise on Aer Lingus. We know what happened to Eircom, which was a flop. Far from investing in it, the so-called "fat cats" came in, asset stripped it and we now have one of the worst services in Europe because of a total lack of investment.

We should also investigate the operation of the redress board in which this House played an important role. I have been approached by a number of people who say they were abused 40 years ago or more. They have waited all this time and because of delays in the system and an insufficient number of judges, they are still being denied justice.

We should continue to monitor operations at Shannon Airport, especially in light of reports in today's newspapers that the Council of Europe has advised that United States flights, especially CIA flights, should, and must be routinely inspected and that this is a legally binding requirement on governments. This is the report of the Venice commission, which also indicated that a degree of collaboration, which has existed by refuelling these rendition torture flights, constitutes complicity and that victims who survive may have a case against the Government because of its complicity in it. Not only that, the Government is required to intervene if, without landing, these aircraft pass through Irish air space. The committee that was almost established by this House should have examined that aspect.