Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the statement by Mr. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe that virtually none of the member states has proper legislative and administrative measures to effectively protect persons against violations of human rights committed by agents of friendly foreign security services operating in their territory; if he will clarify the applicability of the statement to this State; and if he envisages new legislation or Government policy changes in the lifetime of this Dáil. [15685/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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On 12 April 2006, Mr. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, stated, inter alia, that, although a final analysis of member states' responses to his Article 52 inquiry was not yet completed, virtually no member state had proper legislative and administrative measures to effectively protect individuals against human rights violations committed by agents of friendly foreign security services operating on their territory.

The Secretary General went on to state that the information he has received is being analysed and that a complete assessment of the replies will take some time, to be followed by the publication of his final report, which will include proposals for intergovernmental action at Council of Europe level. The Secretary General added that the nature of the information received prevented him from making any further comments on individual countries at this stage. For obvious reasons, I am not in a position to clarify any aspect of the Secretary General's statement. I await the publication of his final report.

As stated in Ireland's publicly-available reply to the Secretary General's Article 52 enquiry, the actions of all persons present in the territory of Ireland are governed by Irish law, including that relating to the deprivation of liberty. Ireland has fulfilled all of its positive obligations in respect of preventing unacknowledged deprivation of liberty, including the active investigation by the Garda Síochána of specific allegations relating to so-called extraordinary rendition flights.