Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 229: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will refer the European Parliament Committee's Report on Extraordinary Rendition to a Parliamentary Committee as recommended in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6726/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I have made clear on a number of occasions my disappointment with the content of the Report of the Temporary Committee of the European Parliament on extraordinary rendition. In particular, the Committee's figure of 147 allegedly-suspicious flights is grossly inflated, as shown by the identification of only 3 suspicious flights by Senator Dick Marty as part of the Council of Europe's separate investigations.

I was one of only two Ministers for Foreign Affairs to attend a meeting of the TDIP Committee. However, I regret that certain members of the Committee did not avail of the opportunity to produce a forward-looking document, and ignored my suggestions about the changes that, in my view, need to be made to the regulation of international civil aviation.

The Report's call for the Government "to agree to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the use of Irish territory as part of the CIA rendition circuit" ignores the fact that it is for the Oireachtas to decide its own work schedule. It also ignores the fact that Seanad Éireann has on three separate occasions—most recently on 31 January—voted not to institute a specific enquiry. These issues have been extensively debated in both Houses of the Oireachtas, and both have passed motions supporting the Government's policy in this area, the Seanad on 31 January, the Dáil on 14 June 2006.

Rather than calling for more enquiries, I would suggest that the time has come to focus on what concrete measures we might take to help prevent or deter extraordinary rendition in the future, which practice I have consistently condemned in the strongest terms. It is with this objective that my Department is exploring with European partners the issues I have raised in relation to the regulation of civil aviation.