Seanad Report:There was no fundamental difference between the 9/11 attacks in the US five years ago and the international terrorism perpetrated by Britain in this country, Labhras Ó Murchú (FF) said.
"In other circumstances they would be before a war tribunal for war crimes, but the problem is, and we all know it quite well, that will not happen. We also know they will not be held accountable, because what's going to happen at the end of the day is a fudge," he said.
Mr Ó Murchú, who was referring to the Oireachtas sub-committee report on atrocities on both sides of the Border in the mid-1970s, said the murderous involvement of Britain in acts of terrorism in Ireland would come as no surprise to many people. "I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy that's going on with world leaders, because language has lost all meaning, and people have been denied just, reasonable and accountable leadership."
Jim Walsh (FF) said the current British government was as guilty of collusion as had been its predecessors in the 1970s.
Making it clear that he would welcome a debate on the report, Martin Mansergh (FF) said that while Ireland and Britain now had substantially shared values, that had not been the case three decades ago. "Unfortunately, even today shared values don't seem to extend to an honest getting-to-grips with what happened 30 years ago," he said.
David Norris (Ind) called on the Taoiseach to withdraw the statement he had made earlier this week in Brussels "where he said that Shannon airport was not involved in any way in rendition". This was so blatantly untrue that it damaged this country, added Mr Norris. It had been established beyond doubt that Shannon had been involved.
"There are nine cases which have been clearly, factually and evidentially established, and it is utterly wrong for the Taoiseach of this country to disgrace Ireland by telling things that are blatantly untrue," he said.
The Defamation Bill was listed on the Seanad schedule for next Wednesday, acting House leader John Minihan (PD) said. The Privacy Bill was not scheduled to be taken this side of Christmas and he did not know what would happen after that.
Paul Coghlan, acting Fine Gael leader in the House, had asked if it could be confirmed that neither Bill would be taken in advance of the general election.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) suggested that an assurance might be given by the Minister that the Privacy Bill would not see the light of day.