Greens welcome rendition report

The Green Party has welcomed the publication today by the Irish Human Rights Commission of a report into the CIA's use of Ireland's airports for 'extraordinary renditions' of prisoners suspected to be involved in terrorism. Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD has said that the report, entitled ‘Extraordinary rendition: a review of Ireland’s human rights obligations,' underlines the need to prioritise the enforcement of legislation in this area.

Deputy Cuffe said: "There is a need for more human rights training for members of An Garda Síochána. Gardaí at our airports need to be briefed fully on the Criminal Justice/United Nations Convention Against Torture Act, 2000 and the Geneva Conventions Acts 1962-1998.

"The Green Party will raise the issues contained within today's report with our Government partners as part of the continued implementation of the Programme for Government agreed last June.

"I believe the inspection of any aircraft that has been involved in rendition in the past should be considered. In my opinion, the previous usage of these aircraft in such circumstances may provide sufficient grounds for their inspection if they land on Irish soil.

"Garda powers of search can be deployed only where there are reasonable grounds for their utilisation, capable of withstanding scrutiny in a court of law. A European Parliament report (1) from 2006 states that 14 different CIA aircraft have stopped over in Ireland, and that several of these aircraft have been used previously in the rendition of prisoners from Afghanistan. This may provide the Gardaí with reasonable grounds on which to search such planes.

"I am also concerned at the Gardaí's recent arrest and detention of retired army officer Ed Horgan when he reported the presence of a suspicious aircraft (registration N478GS) at Shannon on 29 November 2007. That plane, in December 2004, according to the European Parliament report, landed in Bucharest travelling from Afghanistan with at least one armed American passenger aboard," concluded Deputy Cuffe.

European Parliament working document No. 8 of the temporary committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (pages 21, 32): http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/tdip/working_docs/pe380984_en.pdf

The Irish Human Rights Commission's report is available at: http://www.ihrc.ie/_fileupload/publications/IHRC_Rendition_Report.pdf