76% believe Government should search CIA flights

MORE THAN three-quarters of the public believe the Government should search CIA aircraft transiting through Shannon, a new national poll has found.

The Amnesty International poll of 1,000 people, carried out by Lansdowne Market Research, found 76% believe the Government should check every CIA flight through Shannon for evidence of the illegal transfer of prisoners for interrogation in Guantánamo Bay and other locations.

Just 14% of respondents said such flights should not be checked while 10% said they did not know.

The latest poll comes after UN special investigator on torture Manfred Nowak said he was certain secret US prisons in Europe existed.

Amnesty’s Irish director Sean Love said the wishes of the Irish people were clear.

“This is clear evidence, if evidence were needed, that the people of Ireland want our Government, our airports, and our airspace, to have no hand, act or part in the hideous practice of extraordinary renditions,” he said.

With an EU Council of Ministers investigation also in train, the Government has repeatedly denied any extraordinary renditions have used Irish airspace. That denial is based on explicit assurances received from US President George W Bush and US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In addition, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern have told the Dáil that any such flights would never be permitted to pass through Irish airspace.

But Mr Love said such a commitment meant nothing without follow-up searches to ensure the US authorities were keeping their word.

“Amnesty International now demands that the Irish Government make this commitment meaningful in the context of CIA flights through Shannon Airport and Irish airspace.”

The EU council investigation into renditions has already indicated that assurances alone that the activities of foreign agents comply with international and national law are not enough and should be backed up by enforcement measures.

According to Amnesty International, nearly 1,000 flights directly linked to the CIA have used European airspace. Details of all those flights will be presented in a new Amnesty report on renditions to be launched on Wednesday.

“We brought to the Irish Government’s attention in December flight logs showing that six planes known to be used by the CIA for renditions had made at least 50 landings at Shannon Airport,” said Mr Love.

“There is nothing anti-American about a sovereign state taking its own obligations under international law seriously.

“The views expressed by the Irish public on the possible abuse of Ireland’s territory and airspace for the illegal activity of extraordinary rendition are very clear. No amount of prevarication by Government can justify evasion of its responsibilities.”