Amnesty International has attacked the Government over its response to US assurances that Shannon Airport is not being used for "extraordinary renditions" of prisoners.
The human rights group said Ireland's failure to thoroughly investigate claims that the US is bringing prisoners through the airport, relying instead on US assurances that it is not the case, shows the Government is not taking the issue seriously.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern told the Dail yesterday that Shannon had not been used in any way for extraordinary rendition flights. He said recent assurances given by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other US officials, were absolutely categoric and were accepted as true by the Government.
Mr Ahern has said he had no reason not to believe the assurances, coming as they did from a "friendly" state.
But Seán Love, Executive Director of Amnesty Ireland said today these assurances were "utterly and demonstrably meaningless".
He said there are real concerns the prisoners are at risk of being "disappeared", tortured or otherwise ill-treated. He insisted the Government has an obligation to exercise due diligence in investigating allegations that human rights abuses are being carried out on Irish soil or in Irish airspace.
As a result of its failure to do so, the Government "runs a very real risk of undermining its hard-won ability to speak with credibility on grave human rights situations around the world, as is now the reality for the US and UK governments," said Mr Love.
Meanwhile, protesters have gathered outside Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's constituency office in Ranelagh, South Dublin demanding the Government take action over the use of Shannon airport by CIA aircraft.
The group, Cosantoiri Na Siochana called on the minister to authorise searches of jets.
There should be an immediate investigation to find out whether or not there have been grave breaches of human rights at Shannon," Mark Price, a spokesman for the group, said.
"There is significant evidence that planes which have been involved in the rendition process in other countries have passed through Ireland," he said.
Mr Price noted evidence published by Amnesty International that six CIA chartered planes landed at Shannon Airport 50 times between September 2001 and September 2005. He claimed this was a conservative figure.