Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I could have a great time if I had 20 minutes but as I have only five minutes I must be very selective. I will ignore all the vulgar abuse about myself and my associations with people in other countries, as well as other related matters. Instead I will concentrate on one or two points.

The first is the extraordinary position where every single speaker on the Government side has indicated they accept the word of the US Government. The same is true of the Department of Foreign Affairs. These people are quite sure on the matter. Everybody here has accepted that extraordinary rendition has occurred and not one person has spoken up on the Government side who did not believe it had occurred.

Condoleezza Rice has categorically denied it ever happened and that is the official public position of the US Government. Yet the report's contents on what happened in Italy, Sweden, Austria and the United Kingdom are unchallenged by anybody I know in Government. In each case the report names individuals abducted from those countries and in most cases brought to be tortured. The US Government denied that ever happened.

A representative of the US gave us, with hand on her heart, an assurance that nobody went through Shannon. How can our Government believe another government which lies on a grand scale and denied in every international forum that extraordinary rendition ever happened, despite overwhelming evidence? That is where we run into problems.

I do not agree with Senator Norris and did not particularly like the tone of his speech.