“The EU Parliament Committee investigating allegations of the CIA use of European countries for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (TDIP) has today slammed the Irish Government’s collusion in rendition,” according to the ICCL’s Director, Mr. Mark Kelly.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dermot Ahern TD, appeared before the TDIP in November 2006, and the ICCL denounced his attempt to rely on “diplomatic assurances” by the United States authorities as a safeguard against Ireland’s collusion in rendition. The TDIP’s final report makes clear that diplomatic assurances of this sort are a smoke screen for rendition, and castigates the Minister for failing to answer all its questions about Irish airports being used by CIA aircraft going to or from rendition missions.
“Government attempts to water down the Committee’s findings after the Foreign Minister’s hearing would also appear to have backfired,” said Mr. Kelly.
In December 2006, Fianna Fáil MEP, Eoin Ryan, submitted a series of amendments to the TDIP’s draft report. These included an attempt to replace references to 147 Irish stop overs made by CIA-operated aircraft with wording that ‘applauds the Irish Government for its proactive policy in relation to extraordinary rendition, in particular its early engagement with the US authorities on the subject’.
The ICCL is pleased that the TDIP has rejected these attempts, and that its final report still asserts “serious concern” about the 147 stop overs made by CIA-operated aircraft at Irish airports which – on many occasions – came from or were bound for countries linked with extraordinary rendition circuits and the transfer of detainees. The report also “deplores” the Irish stopovers of CIA aircraft shown to have been used in the rendition of seven named individuals.
The TDIP has also called for a Dáil inquiry into the use of Irish territory as part of the CIA rendition circuit, and the European Parliament is expected to endorse this call when it considers the report in Strasbourg next month.
“The Irish Government has attempted to muzzle the work of this EU rendition committee, and that has backfired. As the ICCL has consistently stressed, the Government must now live up to its obligations under international human rights law, by commissioning an independent investigation of the use of Irish airports by CIA-operated flights, and by putting in place an effective means of randomly inspecting planes. These are the only steps that will reassure the Irish public that Ireland’s involvement in a global spider’s web of unlawful prisoner transfers has truly come to an end,” concluded Mr. Kelly.