EU committee slams Irish complicity in CIA "torture flights"

The Irish Government is coming for more severe criticism today over the use of Shannon Airport by planes involved in the Bush administration's rendition programme.

In a report out today, a European Parliament committee investigating the so-called "torture flights" says thousands have crossed through EU airspace and landed at EU airports in recent years.

Ireland is named as one of the worst offenders.

The committee expresses "serious concern" about 147 stopovers in Ireland by CIA planes involved in the rendition scheme, which is used to kidnap suspected Islamic militants in countries across the world.

The victims are then transferred to other countries for interrogation which frequently involves torture.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern appeared before the EU committee investigating the matter, but today's report says he failed to answer all the questions put to him.

It says Ireland breached its own human rights obligations by simply accepting the Bush administration's assurances that no terrorism suspects were on board any flights which landed in Ireland.

The Government is now being urged to hold a Dáil inquiry into the issue and to either ban all CIA flights or initiate random searches to ensure they are not involved in illegal activities.