Extraordinary rendition claim rejected

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has dismissed claims by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) that the United States has used Irish airports for "extraordinary rendition" of terrorist suspects.

"The review fails to do justice to the extent to which the Government has been active on the issue of extraordinary rendition, but going beyond what everybody else in the world is doing for an airport, when there is not a scintilla of evidence that anything has ever happened, would not be a good idea."

Mr Ahern said that "in the most recent case where it was reported to the Government that we should watch for a particular aeroplane, the Garda search found six golfers on the way to Ballybunion."

He added that the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Transport would examine the recommendations made in the report, but both had already made the point that there were serious questions about the effectiveness of the inspection regime proposed by the commission.

"We have explained this in detail to it. No other European country has such a regime."

He added: "Why put Shannon airport on the international map as a place where something is happening, when several reports have examined the issue and found no validation?"

Labour party leader Éamon Gilmore said the IHRC was an independent body to oversee the way in which the State complied with its human rights obligations.

"Yesterday, that independent body issued a report which states the Irish State is not complying with its human rights obligations to prevent torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

"That was in respect of a process that is politely known as extraordinary rendition, whereby the CIA kidnaps citizens of European countries off the streets of their own cities, bundles them into a car, takes them to an airport and flies them to a country in Africa or the Middle East where they are tortured.

"A number of reports, including that of the human rights commission, state that Shannon airport is one of the airports used for the transiting of these people who are being ferreted away for the purpose of torture."

Mr Gilmore added that the issue had been raised on a number of occasions, and the Government's response was that it had received diplomatic assurances from the US government that extraordinary rendition was not happening through Shannon and it had accepted those assurances.

"The human rights commission, however, states that is not sufficient to comply with our human rights obligations and that what is required is inspection of the aircraft.

"In this report, the human rights commission states that since 2005, it has been asking the Government to inspect the aircraft which are going through Shannon to satisfy itself independently that people are not being moved through Shannon for the purposes of torture but the Government has not complied.

"Why has the Government not complied with the request from the human rights commission to inspect the aircraft through Shannon and is it going to start a system of inspections of the aircraft in Shannon?"

Mr Ahern insisted that the Government was totally opposed to the practice of extraordinary rendition anywhere.

"It is important to repeat that at no stage, despite the various investigations that have taken place in recent years, has any evidence been produced that any person has ever been subject to extraordinary rendition through this country, nor has there even been any specific allegation to that effect. That is the factual position."