Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

That is not the case. Senator Marty found plenty of evidence that on the balance of probability we should be taking greater care than we have done.

The Council of Europe report and Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council, concur that laws will need to be put in place. For example, we may need to introduce a criminal offence covering the process of extraordinary rendition. I read on the Council's website that Mr. Davis issued a report today detailing further information. He will soon make proposals for action to the committee of ministers of the Council of Europe on the legislation that needs to be put in place, including in Ireland. This applies to all member countries of the Council. Hungary is the only country he specifies because it has the strongest oversight measures. He will make proposals in terms of legislation we need to put in place and the European Parliament will look for information on what we are doing. That is the reason we need a committee. We need it so we will have the information available to hand as to the mechanisms we have in place and those we need to put in place to bring about improvement and as to how we can use our current laws better and whether we need to introduce new laws. A committee would help us deal with these matters and help us use our sovereignty to work with the Council of Europe and the European Parliament committee to do what is necessary.

There is no point in waiting for the bad news or for the announcement that we have not been dealing correctly with the matter. We should not just wait like Senator Mooney suggests until we are told "Here is the evidence." We should be proactive on the issue and be ready to do whatever is necessary and implement whatever laws are required. It is not about waiting to be told we are not dealing correctly with the matter like with the recent Supreme Court judgment and then panicking. We must try and do something now. We must get as much information as possible and do what we can to improve procedures.

It is clear from the incident at the weekend that we do not have even the basic procedures in place to deal with the issue. We would not have heard the different stories about what happened at Shannon at the weekend, if we had proper and adequate procedures in places. There is much preparatory work we can do now to deal with these matters.