The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has warmly welcomed today’s European Parliament decision to call for a Dáil inquiry into Ireland’s collusion in the practice of rendition (unlawful prisoner transfers).
The call was made today after the European Parliament voted to accept the recommendations of a report by a parliamentary committee on the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners by the CIA. The Parliament has rejected attempts by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, to rely on US diplomatic assurances, and has criticised his failure to answer all of MEP’s questions about Irish airports being used by CIA aircraft going to or from rendition missions.
“This vote by the Strasbourg Parliament makes clear that no European country is entitled to rely upon “diplomatic assurances” from the United States authorities as a safeguard against collusion in these unlawful prisoner transfers”, said the ICCL’s Director, Mr Mark Kelly.
“As the ICCL has consistently stated, such diplomatic assurances are no more than a smokescreen for rendition,” said Mr Kelly.
“The time has come for the Irish Government to live up to its international human obligations, and it should start 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.”