The Government today insisted secret CIA flights into Shannon Airport were not connected to the US intelligence agency's so-called extraordinary rendition programme.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern was responding to a Council of Europe report which today accused Ireland of complicity in the illegal transit of prisoners around Europe and North Africa to detention camps were some were tortured.
The Government was subjected to a welter of criticism after the report found Shannon was a "stop-over point" for rendition flights on routes from Washington to Rabat in Morocco, Egyptian capital, Cairo and Larnaca in Cyprus.
Stop-overs were defined as: "points at which aircraft land to refuel, mostly on the way home [from rendition locations]".
Mr Marty criticised the Government's acceptance of US assurances that Shannon had no role in renditions and its resultant refusal to order the inspection suspect planes.
Mr Ahern dismissed the document authored by Swiss senator Dick Marty, saying it contained no new information.
His spokesman said: "There is nothing new in the Council of Europe report to question or undermine the assurances we have received from US authorities on the use of Shannon Airport.
"The Irish Government's thorough investigation of the issue in 2005 was endorsed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
"There is absolutely no question of Ireland colluding in the stopover of alleged rendition flights. On the contrary, the Government has made clear its total opposition to the practice of extraordinary rendition.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "Ireland is totally opposed to extraordinary renditions and has made representations to that effect at the highest international political levels".
President of the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) Maurice Manning said the report was "persuasive if not conclusive".
Mr Manning said the findings supported the IHRC's position and he said diplomatic assurances should only be accepted if "legally enforceable".
While Mr Marty said prisoners were not transported through Shannon, the failure to prevent flights used to move prisoners means Ireland was complicit in the denial of their human rights. Mr Manning said: "The possibility raised in the report that Ireland could be held responsible for active or passive collusion is sufficiently grave to require further urgent investigation by the Irish authorities.
"The only effective way of ensuring that we do not become complicit in dispatching people to be tortured or ill-treated is through establishing an effective regime of monitoring and inspection."
Mark Kelly of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said Mr Marty's findings meant there was reason to believe that aircraft which refuelled in Ireland "may have carried prisoners with the intention of transferring them to countries where they would face ill treatment."
"This report clearly indicates that, despite diplomatic assurances to the contrary by the United States, CIA rendition flights have been refuelling at Shannon Airport," Mr Kelly said.
Amnesty International has alleged that between September 2001 and September 2005, Shannon was used on 50 occasions by CIA planes disguised as commercial airlines.
Washington has acknowledged the existence of rendition flights but Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice issued public assurances that Ireland was not involved.
The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern accepted these, saying there was therefore no need to inspect suspect flights.
Labour Party Representative to the Council of Europe Eamon Gilmore said today the Government's "feigned ignorance [was] pathetic".
"This report, following a separate Council of Europe report last March and numerous and repeated public criticisms from Irish and international human rights organisations, decimates the legitimacy of the Government's line," Mr Gilmore said.
The Green Party's John Gormley said Mr Marty's findings showed the Government had been misleading the public.
"The Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs need to explain why they have denied that Ireland was involved in any way in extraordinary renditions," Mr Gormley said.
Fine Gael's Bernard Allen said Ireland's international standing had been damaged and called on the Government to publish all information it has on rendition flights through Shannon.
Additional reporting PA