Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the recent comments of the UN rapporteur for trafficking on the Government's knowledge of aircraft used for extraordinary rendition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4306/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Neither the office of the UN Commission on Human Rights' Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, nor AFRI, the organisers of the event in Ireland at which the Special Rapporteur spoke, have as yet been able to provide a copy of the Special Rapporteur's speech, or an outline of the comments to which the Deputy refers. I have made clear on numerous occasions, however, that the Government, in addition to forcefully condemning extraordinary rendition, has no knowledge, as apparently alleged, of aircraft using Irish airports for this purpose. On the contrary, we have sought and received categoric assurances from the US authorities, confirmed at the highest levels, that this does not happen. This reality is further supported by the findings of the recent report of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee investigating extraordinary rendition. Moreover, in none of the investigations conducted by An Garda Síochána in this matter, has evidence been adduced of such illegal activity at Irish airports.