David Norris (Independent)

I never stated I had any evidence that prisoners were being brought through Shannon Airport. I made the point, which has been clearly proved time and again in a number of cases, that the aircraft were refuelled. That constitutes collusion.

With regard to what was said about assurances, they are not worth a damn. Both the Minister of State and I know that. The Minister of State knows the definition of torture given by Condoleezza Rice, even with regard to the case of Guantanamo, where there is a degree of visibility, was that hooding, white noise and sleep deprivation were used. The Minister of State should be ashamed to sit there as a member of Fianna Fáil and a Government which took the United Kingdom Government to the European Court of Human Rights on those three grounds exactly and tried to defend it.

It is a shame on this House. I am disgusted. There is a case for reform of the Seanad. The reform should involve removing these rotten constituencies whose candidates are elected by fewer than 1,000 county councillors. We should have some real democracy, as is evident with the university seats. We are elected by a real number of real voters without vested interests.