Mick Wallace and Clare Daly reportedly arrested at Shannon airport.

jimboblep

bajer101 wrote: »

Renditions, which are illegal under international law.

have you any proof of that beyond an assumption
i have already seen the case in new york about the possibility that it may of happened with all the maybes and possiblys so you can discount that
fact is if their was hard evidence it would of already been used by a protest group

y0ssar1an22

From Wikipedia:

Ireland

The government of Republic of Ireland has come under internal and external pressure to inspect airplanes at Shannon Airport to investigate whether or not they contain extraordinary rendition captives.[120][121] Police at Shannon said that they had received political instruction not to approach, search or otherwise interfere with US aircraft suspected of being involved in extraordinary rendition flights. Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern sought permission from the US for random inspection of US flights, to provide political "cover" to him in case rendition flights were revealed to have used Shannon; he believed at least three flights had done so.[122] Ireland has been censured by the European Parliament for its role in facilitating extraordinary rendition and taking insufficient or no measures to uphold its obligations under the UN CAT.[123]

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition#Ireland

bajer101

comongethappy wrote: »

Not at all.

And I'd love someone to show the codex of Intl law that says it does

Whether US, Russian, Chinese, South Sudanese troops transit through Shannon, it doesn't change neutrality status one bit.

And your welcome to prve that wrong factually & legally, no conjecture.

"the policy or status of a nation that does not participate in a war between other nations: the continuous neutrality of Switzerland."

By allowing one side in a conflict to use your airfields, you are participating. You won't see Switzerland allowing its airports be used for military stopovers.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/neutrality

RayM

Back in 2003, Enda Kenny and Fine Gael voted against allowing the US to use Shannon. Bertie Ahern leaned very heavily on (and more than likely offered all kinds of sweeteners to) any Fianna Fail backbenchers who opposed the motion. In the end, the Fianna Failers all voted with the government, sticking two fingers up at the 100,000 Irish people who marched against the war. I presume, since becoming Taoiseach, Enda Kenny has had a similar change of heart.

Also in 2003, Mick Wallace put up a huge banner on his building site on Ormond Quay - "We have the blood of Iraqi children on our hands"

Say what you like about Wallace, but unlike most of the political establishment, at least he's consistent. At least he stands for something.

jimboblep

My name is URL wrote: »

I'm not a judge. I asked if Gardai inspect planes to make sure that laws are not being broken.

Conditions apply to the use of Shannon airport. Who is ensuring that those conditions are met?

you did say the laws were being routinely broken i presumed you had evidence beyond an assumption.
just because their is the potential for a law to be broken doesnt mean it actually is

SpaceTime

While I don't agree with the situation at Shannon, it also exposes our airports as being way too insecure.

Could we not put up some proper fences?

A somewhat 'unhinged' gentleman managed to hijack a car and drive into Cork Airport's apron and then hijack a 4x4 and drive around like a maniac under parked up, fully fuelled planes a few years ago.

eeepaulo

jimboblep wrote: »

have you any proof of that beyond an assumption
i have already seen the case in new york about the possibility that it may of happened with all the maybes and possiblys so you can discount that
fact is if their was hard evidence it would of already been used by a protest group

Thats the point though, there is no proof because we do not know what is in them.

Lets just trust america, they are the good guys after all.

30txsbzmcu2k9w

So many shallow responses in here.
Just sums up the spineless nature of the nation.
Everyone losing their sh¡t cos they've climbed a fence. Do really care or is it just an excuse to shout "Crusty!" and have a go at protestors?

Any politician with some semblance of conscience and the will to do something about it is good in my book, even if it means rattling a few cages.

Awkward Badger

Coat22 wrote: »

At least the couple of party eejits would form part of a group with actual policies ands strategies on issues rather than “down with this sort of thing” and “lets just tax the rich” and “sure we’ll just not pay our debts”

Agreed they could be hopeless eejits but at least they’d be penned in by a political party with some inteligent policies and advisers

Making them utterly redundant given the government would have the majority anyway. I'd rather some decent individuals in opposition to challenge the government and hold them to account which Daly and Wallace have done on certain issues than a couple pointless party head bobbers.

bajer101

jimboblep wrote: »

have you any proof of that beyond an assumption
i have already seen the case in new york about the possibility that it may of happened with all the maybes and possiblys so you can discount that
fact is if their was hard evidence it would of already been used by a protest group

Amnesty believe it.

http://www.amnesty.ie/content/rendition-flights

"The Council of Europe and European Parliament inquiries have identified Shannon airport as a stopover point in the US renditions programme. Ireland was one of the countries named in a 2006 report by Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur Dick Marty as having passively colluded in US renditions by allowing Shannon Airport to be used by aircraft linked with renditions without restriction or oversight."

http://www.shannonwatch.org/page/shannon-and-renditions

http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/committeedocs/2006/20060606_ejdoc162006partii-final.htm

I'd say that's fairly conclusive.

SpaceTime

There's definitely a lot to be said for shaking up the old-boys club in Leinster House and it's one thing that Clare Daly's been really excellent at.

I wouldn't agree with her on absolutely everything, but I think she's a passionate campaigner and a breath of fresh air in the Dail.

I'd actually give her a vote just because she's been so good at holding 'the old fogies' to account.

My name is URL

Aydin Large Retiree wrote: »

So many shallow responses in here.
Just sums up the spineless nature of the nation.
Everyone losing their sh¡t cos they've climbed a fence. They do really care or is it just an excuse to shout "Crusty!" and have a go at protestors?

Any politician with some semblance of conscience and the will to do something about it is good in my book, even if it means rattling a few cages.

It's the attitude of people like that which allowed the abuse of children to continue for so long in this country.

Instead of questioning anything they instead attack those that dare to. Heavens forbid anyone actually questions 'authority'

Nodin

My name is URL wrote: »

I'm not a judge. I asked if Gardai inspect planes to make sure that laws are not being broken.

Conditions apply to the use of Shannon airport. Who is ensuring that those conditions are met?

No physical inspections are carried out.

SpaceTime

Historically, we've been very passionate about certain issues and not about others though. Like for example, we were very strong on Northern Irish issues (for obvious reasons), on anti-aparthide and on a few others.

There's a large cohort of status quo conservatives though.

Warper

Anyone wrote: »

How is Mick Wallace a public representative? He is an embarrassment

Blame the people that voted for him and that goes for all politicians. Did you vote by the way?

sabat

Judgement Day wrote: »

Mick Wallace was NOT convicted of tax fraud. He made a settlement with the revenue commissioners. Why not check your facts instead of perpetuating this rubbish. I presume from the rest of your post it's an FF Dictatorship you would favour - we've had that.

The fact that no charges were brought just makes the whole matter worse...

Jester252

Too bad the Americans didn't arrest them. They would do us a a favour and lock them Gitmo

Warper

Jester252 wrote: »

Too bad the Americans didn't arrest them. They would do us a a favour and lock them Gitmo

They are too busy backing genocide in Gaza

EazyD

comongethappy wrote: »

Not at all.

And I'd love someone to show the codex of Intl law that says it does

Whether US, Russian, Chinese, South Sudanese troops transit through Shannon, it doesn't change neutrality status one bit.

And your welcome to prve that wrong factually & legally, no conjecture.

That argument would hold up if routine inspections were carried out on all inbound cargo. It's been verified numerous times that this is not the case, so how are we to be certain that we do not contravene international laws?

gramar

Mick and Clare in Shannon saving Ireland from tghe big bad yanks. More Wallace and Gromit than the caped crusaders.

Jester252

Warper wrote: »

They are too busy backing genocide in Gaza

Typical crusty

comongethappy

bajer101 wrote: »

"the policy or status of a nation that does not participate in a war between other nations: the continuous neutrality of Switzerland."

By allowing one side in a conflict to use your airfields, you are participating. You won't see Switzerland allowing its airports be used for military stopovers.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/neutrality

Aah...a dictionary.


The thing is... and its the real politick of the issue.
A country is neutral if it says its neutral.
That's the ballgame.

Neither you nor I can change that.
Ireland remains neutral until a government says otherwise.

We were neutral during WW2 (but we weren't)...

So no matter what comes through Shannon.... There is no agency on earth that decides Ireland's neutrality status except the Irish government...

Its not perfect.... But then what is.

NIMAN

Hopefully they will bang them 2 eejits up for a while.

Nodin

Jester252 wrote: »

Typical crusty

A scathing retort. I'll have to be careful around a seasoned observer such as yourself Sir.

My name is URL

comongethappy wrote: »

So no matter what comes through Shannon.... There is no agency on earth that decides Ireland's neutrality status except the Irish government...

Mr Kenny again stated Fine Gael’s position on Irish neutrality. “The truth is, Ireland is not neutral. We are merely unaligned,” he said.

http://www.forumoneurope.ie/indexed23.html?locID=113&docID=1093&COMMAND=PRINTER

Judgement Day

Nodin wrote: »

A scathing retort. I'll have to be careful around a seasoned observer such as yourself Sir.

We agree on something at last - is this a record?

eeepaulo

I bet Mick was humming the mission impossible theme tune the whole time

Nodin

Judgement Day wrote: »

We agree on something at last - is this a record?

I'd imagine so.

jimgoose

Warper wrote: »

They are too busy backing genocide in Gaza

Now that's a long story, including but not necessarily limited to British conniving over Partition in 1949, the Yom kippur situation in 1973, Jimmy Carter being made a prick of by Menachem Begin at Camp David in 1979, etc. etc. They'd prefer not to be.

super_furry

Fair play to them. Whether or not you agree with their politics or actions, how many other Irish politicians would be willing to take such a stand for what they believe in?