Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 374: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if searches have been carried out on US or CIA planes landing at Shannon Airport to independently ascertain whether they are transporting prisoners en route to detention camps. [35543/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The situation remains as set out in my replies to several previous questions, most recently Nos. 2 and 43 of 10 November 2005.

The Government has, on several occasions, made clear to the US authorities that it would be illegal to transit prisoners for rendition purposes through Irish territory without the express permission of the Irish authorities, acting in accordance with Irish and international law. I will raise this issue again when I meet the US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleezza Rice, in Washington next week. The US authorities, for their part, have confirmed that they have not done so and that they would not do so without seeking the permission of the Irish authorities. No request for such authorisation has been received from the US authorities.

The Government will continue to follow the long-standing practice whereby details supplied to the Department of Foreign Affairs in this area by the US authorities are accepted in good faith as being accurate. However, if anyone has credible evidence that Shannon Airport, or indeed any other Irish airport, has been used for the purposes described by the Deputy, this should, as has been made clear by my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, be shared with the Garda authorities. Any such development would, I need hardly emphasise, be viewed with the most serious concern by the Government.