Ireland will ensure it has powers to search US planes transiting through the country to check that the CIA is not transporting terrorist suspects, a junior government coalition partner said Saturday.
The Green Party, the second-biggest group in Prime Minister Brian Cowen's ruling coalition, has been pressing for progress on government commitments over the inspection of planes for possible rendition of terrorist suspects through Shannon airport in the south-west.
Ciaran Cuffe, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, said a cabinet sub-committee had agreed the government would contact the transition team of the incoming US presidential administration, regardless of the victor in the November 4 election.
The Irish government will seek a clear commitment that so-called "extraordinary rendition" and interrogation techniques which are considered to be torture - such as waterboarding - will cease. "The Government will also ask the new administration to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay as soon as possible," Cuffe said in a statement.
"The Cabinet committee will examine and strengthen legal provisions to ensure that Gardai (Irish police) and airport authorities have adequate legal powers for search and inspection of aircraft. "This may involve strengthening the provisions of the Air Navigation and Transport Acts." Cuffe said he was "delighted" that the government "had decided to send a clear signal to the incoming US administration."
Former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern had accepted US assurances that the CIA was not transporting terrorist suspects through Irish airports. Ahern said his government had been repeatedly told by US authorities, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that no prisoners had been or would be transferred through Ireland.
Shannon, the first airport across the North Atlantic from the US, is an important re-fuelling stop for American military planes. Hundreds of thousands of US troops have passed through the airport going to and from the Iraq war.
Comments
Comments are closed.