Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Minister is right. It is nonsense to suggest that facilitating the refuelling of planes that were used to transport people to regimes where they would be tortured is part of an ethical foreign policy. The Minister blinked because he did not want to say something. The Government says the lady gave it an assurance. The lady has told lies about US policy on extraordinary rendition. She said it did not do it. Apparently she tells yarns and fibs in public but when she meets our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Taoiseach, she discovers a new self and tells the truth and the Government says it believes her. The evidence is that she does not tell the truth. On the question of whether we tolerated airplanes that were involved in this disgusting practice going through one of our airports , the answer is, "Yes, we did."