Amnesty call on the Irish government

Human rights organisation, Amnesty International, said Ireland must regain control over use by US military aircraft of its airspace and territory.
The call comes as the organisation released a report detailing cases of the transportation of terrorist suspects by US military involving seven European states.
Amnesty International is asking European leaders to end what it calls a 'see no evil' policy on CIA activity.



Only last week the Parliamentary Assembly published a report, Involving Ireland in turning a blind eye to the actions of the CIA passing through Shannon airport.
The report goes on to say:

233. The principle of trust has also been invoked by other governments. This is the case with Ireland, for example: the government has stated that there was no reason to investigate the presence of American aircraft, since the United States had given assurances195. In Germany, the government and the ruling parties opposed – ultimately in vain – the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, despite the significant questions being raised about the role of the intelligence services, particularly in the case of the abduction of El-Masri. Lastly, in November 2005 I sent a request for information to the United States Ambassador (an observer with the Council of Europe). The Ambassador responded by sending me the public statement made by the American Secretary of State on 5 December 2005. In particular, the latter had stated that the United States had not violated the sovereignty of European states, that ‘renditions’ had saved human lives and that no prisoners had been transported for the purpose of torture196. European ministers, meeting in the framework of NATO, hastened to declare themselves satisfied with these assurances197. Or almost198.

289. Some of these above mentioned states, and others, could be held responsible for collusion – active or passive (in the sense of having tolerated or having been negligent in fulfilling the duty to supervise) - involving secret detention and unlawful inter-state transfers of a non specified number of persons whose identity so far remains unknown:

- Poland and Romania, concerning the running of secret detention centers;

- Germany, Turkey, Spain and Cyprus for being ’staging points’ for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees;

- Ireland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece and Italy for being ‘stopovers’ for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees

The same is true of the replies given by other governments questioned by members of their parliaments, such as those of Belgium, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland

And the Irish government says that there is no reason to believe that the CIA are transporting prisoners through Shannon airport.
And only the other day did a worker at Shannon airport come across an US Marine shackled hand and foot. So now the cats out of the bag. And a lot of red faces as a result of the find
What’s the Irish government going to do now?

http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?Link=/CommitteeDocs/2006/20060606_Ejdoc162006PartII-FINAL.htm