Secret Irish Defence Agreements Linked to CIA Torture Revealed

The Screw Turns Another Notch on the Ahern's

Two previously unknown defence agreements with the US, one of which relates directly to Irish Government complicity in torture, were revealed today in the Dail Eireann by Labour's Michael D. Higgins.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahern therefore lied on January 26th 2005 that the state was a party to any secret international agreement.

The first agreement concerns security measures for the protection of classified information. It may be being used by the Taoiseach's office to refuse to give any information on the CIA's rendition programme which used Shannon, as reported by the Sunday Business Post last weekend. (http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS-qqqs=news-qqqid=10896-qqqx=1.asp)

The second agreement was reportedly signed in order to enable Irish troops in Kosovo to avail of US facilities.


***
This is the Labour party press release on the subject.

The President of the Labour Party and Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Deputy Michael D. Higgins, has written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, seeking an explanation as to why two international defence agreements, reported by the United States to have been agreed with Ireland, have never been laid before the Dail as would appear to have been required under Article 29.5 of the Constitution.

Calling for the immediate publication of the agreements, Deputy Higgins today said that this was a potentially serious development that required an immediate response from the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

“The website of the U.S. State Department lists two recent agreements, which it describes as ‘bilateral defence agreements’ between the United States and Ireland. (http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaties/c15824.htm)

“The first is an “Agreement concerning security measures for the protection of classified military information”. It was signed at Dublin on the 31st January 2003, and entered into force on that date.

“The second is an “Acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, with annexes”, signed at Stuttgart-Vaihingen (US European Command HQ) and Dublin on the 26th and 27th February, 2004, entering into force on the later date.

“Article 29.5.1 of the Constitution requires that every international agreement to which the State becomes a party shall be laid before Dail Eireann although no timeframe is specified for this process. Neither of these agreements has ever been laid before the Dail. The two agreements are not listed either on the Irish Treaty series published by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“In a reply to a parliamentary question from my colleague, Deputy Ruairi Quinn on January 26th 2005, in which Minister Ahern denied that the state was a party to any secret international agreement, the Minister also said that ‘while the requirements of Article 29.5.1. do not apply to agreements of a technical and administrative character (which are exempted under Article 29.5.3) it is the practice for these to be laid before Dail Eireann also…..’

“The failure to lay these documents before the Dail would appear to be in breach of the terms of the Constitution and also would also appear to be inconsistent with the procedures for dealing with such matters set out by the Minister in reply to the Parliamentary Question from Deputy Ruairi Quinn.

“I believe that the disclosure of the existence of these two agreements will cause considerable concern among the public against the background of the war in Iraq, the huge number of U.S. troops passing through Shannon and allegations of the use of Irish airports by CIA controlled planes for the illegal transport of prisoners.

“While we cannot pass judgement on the significance of these agreements until the texts are published, the failure of the government to publish them or to lay them before the Dail is an extraordinary failure on the part of the government to meet its responsibilities that requires an immediate explanation from Minister Ahern.”.