John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I cannot contemplate that this would be the case. If there were deficiencies, a procedure will be gone through to identify them. That procedure is a reasonable one which will establish what happened in the Attorney General's office. To make a connection between the most recent case and the one of 1994 is wholly invidious. Procedures were put in place within the Attorney General's office on the basis of the earlier case. Those systems have worked and have been updated. They are quite different in nature and scope, and deal with different issues, from those which arose in the most recent case. That is as it should be.

I take the point made by Senator White and others with regard to the role of the Seanad, an issue which has been debated comprehensively. An all-party group considered the role of the Seanad and produced a report, and the issue is being considered at present. Perhaps we can return to it at a later stage and debate it in some depth. I accept the proposition made by Senator Bradford that the matter should be kept under review. I will try to ensure that all Members are briefed fully on the Government proposals when they come forward in the other House, as I expect they will.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has at all times been available to this House. In trying, difficult and busy circumstances, he came to the House last Wednesday and dealt comprehensively with many of the issues before we received the Bill. That was helpful in the context of our discussion of the Bill.

On the matter of CIA rendition flights raised by Senators Norris, Ryan, Henry and Dooley, Senator Dooley made the important point that there is no evidence of prisoners being transferred. I accept the Senator's point that if language is used such as "spider's web" and "collusion", it paints the matter in a particular way. I reject a point made by Senator Norris, who said it was clear the aircraft were used illegally to kidnap people. I do not know of any clarity with regard to that matter. In fact, I reject that proposition.