Shannon rendition flights 'not an issue'
The US ambassador to Ireland today said he doesn’t understand public concern about alleged secret rendition flights passing through Shannon Airport.
The Green Party wants a ban on US military flights refuelling at the Mid-West hub but the Irish Government has been assured by the US authorities that no illegal activity is occurring.
The new Programme for Government says extra resources will be given to the gardaí to investigate any evidence of rendition flights within the state.
Ambassador Thomas C Foley said today: “I don’t really understand the concern about renditions in Ireland because they really aren’t an issue here.
“No rendition prisoners have been moved through Ireland.”
The ambassador, who took up his post in Dublin last October, denied that rendition of prisoners was “international kidnapping” because it had the agreement of the two countries involved.
Mr Foley also said he was hopeful that US legislators would strike a political deal to help the estimated 25,000 illegal Irish in the US.
“There is a lot of brinkmanship and politics involved,” he told RTÉ Radio.
“We’re very hopeful it will be passed. It will be debated again today and voted upon on Friday.
“It involves many countries and states. Hopefully a compromise can be found that can satisfy enough people and results in a solution.”
The Harvard graduate spent eight months in Iraq in 2003 as Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority.
He said he lived in a four-man trailer and was “occasionally attacked with mortar rounds and rockets".
He added that he worked “war hours – when you weren’t sleeping, you were working.”
