Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said Ireland should be careful not to put Shannon Airport on the international map as a route for victims of extraordinary rendition when there was no evidence to validate the claims.
Mr Ahern was replying to questions in the Dáil today from Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who asked if the Government planned to start a system of inspecting aircraft moving through Shannon to comply with an inspection regime proposed by the Human Rights Commission.
Mr Gilmore claimed Ireland was not complying with its human rights obligations to prevent inhumane treatment in relation to extraordinary rendition. He said rendition was effectively the kidnapping by the CIA of people in Europe and flying them to Africa or the Middle East where they were tortured.
The Labour TD said that, as it stood, Ireland was accepting diplomatic assurances from the US that the practise was not happening through Shannon Airport.
Mr Ahern said the Garda already had full powers to search aircraft of the type alleged to be involved in extraordinary rendition where they had reasonable grounds for suspecting illegal activity. Any searches carried out had uncovered nothing.
He said the Department of Transport intended to raise the issue at a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in New York in the new year.
"There is an issue here about highlighting Shannon," Mr Ahern said. "Why put Shannon airport up on the international map as somewhere were something is happening where several reports have now examined and found there is no validation for that whatsoever?"
Both the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Transport had raised serious questions over the effectiveness of an inspection regime, Mr Ahern said, adding that no other European country had such a regime in place.
"Going above what anybody else is doing for an airport where there is not a scintilla of evidence that anything has ever happened would not be a good idea."