John Gormley

– Dáil must now investigate Ireland’s role in torture flights;
Shannon effectively now a US military airport

Green Party Chairman and Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD welcomed the European Parliament’s adoption today of a report that strongly condemns the Irish Government for failing to inspect planes used in the illegal detention and transportation of terror suspects. Deputy Gormley said the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern was wildly off the mark in attempting to counter attack the accusations of Ireland’s complicity with the CIA in human rights abuses.

“The European Parliament’s adoption of the renditions report makes the holding of a Dáil inquiry on the issue imperative,” said Deputy Gormley. “The report confirms that planes involved in renditions used Shannon airport to refuel. This undoubtedly constitutes complicity in human rights abuses and is therefore a breach of international law.

“There is no way Dermot Ahern is going to spin his way out of this. The Government’s reliance on diplomatic assurances from the US instead of active inspections is a farce. I hope the Taoiseach has learned a lesson that looking ‘the great’ George Bush in the eye and asking ‘to be sure, to be sure’ does not match up to his obligations to protect human rights and the neutrality of the country.

“The Government would clearly prefer if a Dáil inquiry did not take place, especially in the run-up to a general election. Such an inquiry would likely reveal that Irish neutrality is a sham, that the Government deliberately turned a blind eye to human rights abuses, and that Shannon airport is now, for all intents and purposes, a US military airport,” concluded Deputy Gormley.

Following a vote today in the European Parliament on a report studying illegal CIA activities in Europe, Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD said: “The verdict is out: Ireland has co-operated with the CIA in its programme of extra-judicial detention, transport and torture of suspects who were previously residing in fellow EU member states. Multiple flights involved in the transfer of detainees to locations where they were tortured used facilities at Irish airports. This is a grievous breach of human rights and a major breach of our neutrality. The Government’s role in this scandalous affair deserves a full Dáil inquiry – a recommendation that the European Parliament’s report endorsed today. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern failed to answer all of the committee’s questions when he travelled to Brussels last year. He is now attempting to deflect criticism by labelling the report but he, and his cabinet colleagues, have serious questions to answer about their failure to prevent abuses of human rights and breaches of international law.

“The Government’s response to the likelihood that the CIA was using facilities at Shannon airport for rendition flights was pitiful and reprehensible. Bertie Ahern’s “to be sure to be sure” clarification was a total farce and betrayed his awe of the “great” President Bush. This gombeen act was designed to ensure that he did not rock the boat in terms of trade relations, and was an insult to the people whose human rights abuses Ireland cooperated in.”

John Gormley appeared on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Tuesday 16th January, discussing the raising of human rights issues on trade missions with reference to Bertie Ahern’s visit to Saudi Arabia. You can view the programme on RTÉ’s web site.

Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD today called on the Taoiseach to use his visit to the Middle East to condemn human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and the build-up of US military assets in the Gulf area which, it is feared, could be a precursor to a new American war against Iran. (more…)

Statement by John Gormley TD, Green Party Chairman and spokesperson on foreign affairs

“The US air strikes in Somalia against rebels in a civil war confirm that the Bush administration has learnt nothing from the Iraq debacle. These air strikes - in which a four-year-old was killed - are a breach of international law and a clear indication that Mr. Bush is still fully committed to his own doctrine of pre-emption.

“His so-called ‘War on Terror’ has been entirely counterproductive and sown the seeds of further terrorism for generations to come. It will widen the gap between Islam and the West and destabilise this part of Africa in the same way that the entire Middle East has been destabilised by the occupation of Iraq.

“Also, just as in Iraq, the politics of oil is at play here with the US trying to safeguard access to the Red Sea for its oil tankers. I call on our Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern to condemn this attack. It seems that the Minister Ahern is completely in thrall to the Bush Administration and that any semblance of an independent Irish foreign policy is gone.”

The Green Party took part in a Europe-wide protest today against the Russian Government’s dismal attitude towards human rights. Green Party Chairman and Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD was joined by Party Councillors and General Election candidates outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin, with posters highlighting the names of six people who have been recently killed in politically-motivated assassinations under President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly autocratic regime. Marking UN International Human Rights Day, Green Parties across Europe protested outside Russian embassies in London, Berlin, Brussels, Vienna and in other European capitals. (more…)

– McDowell and Ahern’s faith in ‘assurances’ from US Govt is either disingenuous or naive

Statement by Green Party Foreign affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD: “Justice Minister Michael McDowell said in the Dáil today that he accepts assurances from the US that there were no prisoners on board any of the 147 CIA-operated flights that have landed in Irish airports in recent years.

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Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Gormley TD reacted to the publication today of a draft report by the European Parliament’s committee on the CIA’s alleged use of European countries for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners.

Deputy Gormley said: “It is clear that flights used by the CIA in the purposes of ‘extraordinary rendition’ passed through Shannon airport. This represents a clear breach of international law. Ireland has, and apparently more than once, played its part in the extra-judicial detainment and transport of citizens – in some cases to countries where the violent torture of prisoners is commonplace. CIA-operated aircraft made nearly 150 stopovers at Irish airports, according to the draft report.

“Fianna Fail continues to bury its head in the sand on this issue, and on the wider issue of our complicity in relation to the war in Iraq. The very fact that Minister Dermot Ahern continues to claim that this is part of a 50 year standing arrangement shows that he is living in denial. A report from his own Department of Foreign Affairs states very clearly that the arrangement for military stopovers with the US was on an ‘exceptional basis’. Are we to presume then, that allowing flights used for rendition purposes to pass through Shannon was on a very exceptional basis?

“We hope that our Green colleagues in the European Parliament will make the Minister sweat when he appears before them in Brussels on Thursday.”

Mr. Gormley: It is important that we debate this issue and I am glad that the Government has put forward this motion.  My colleague, Deputy Boyle, has previously suggested that we use our pension funds in ethical ways and this may have been alluded to earlier, but certainly the suggestion that has come from our AWEPA group is worthy of consideration.  What AWEPA has suggested, and what the Green Party has previously suggested, is that we look at the pension funds in a creative and constructive way and that we should not use our pensions money to invest in harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol and armaments.  AWEPA is suggesting that we divest Irish pension funds from Sudan.  It is a suggestion which the Government Deputies ought to consider.  AWEPA states clearly that while the diplomatic deadlock persists, this is a means of applying extra pressure on Khartoum and that President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan has rejected the plan to allow the African Union UN force to be deployed in Darfur by 1 January next.  If we were to take the action AWEPA is suggesting, it would be a small step, which perhaps some would regard as insignificant but which would set the ball rolling for a much wider campaign at European Union level.  We can light that torch.  If that is done and all of the European Union countries were to act together on this, the effect would be significant.  That is why it is important that the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, takes that initiative to his colleagues in the European Union as a way forward. (more…)

76. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the impact the US mid-term election results will have on efforts to legalise Irish immigrants in the United States; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39577/06] (more…)