The President of the EU Commission should be reminded of the "ongoing abuses" of Irish neutrality at Shannon Airport when he holds a meeting there tomorrow with members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (Pana) has said.
The Committee will meet Commission President José Manuel Barroso tomorrow morning in Shannon Airport where they will discuss the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum and consider his views on aspects of the treaty.
However, Pana criticised the Commission President for coming to Ireland seeking a Yes vote and has described as "disturbing" that he should chose to hold the meeting at the scene of "ongoing abuses" of Irish neutrality.
Pana's international secretary Dr Edward Horgan said: “In view of the fact that Ireland was specifically criticised for its unwillingness to co-operate with EU Parliament’s investigation in to the rendition for torture activities of the CIA, it is very appropriate that the EU Commission President should be reminded that this is the airport that was heavily involved in that rendition programme".
Dr Hogan said: "Despite Ireland’s clear implication, no satisfactory explanation has ever been offered by Ireland for its involvement in that programme which included the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.”
“However, it is also very inappropriate that the EU Commission President should be actively campaigning for the Lisbon Treaty when the Irish people already rejected it by a significant majority.
The fact that he is holding this meeting in Shannon Airport in particular is also disturbing since the airport has been, and continues to be, the scene of a gross abuse of Irish neutrality in spite of the so called legally binding guarantees on Irish neutrality promised by EU leaders,” Dr Horgan said.
The former Irish Army Commandant added: “And, no doubt, while Mr Barroso is holding his meeting in Shannon, some of the US troops who pass through Shannon every day on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan will be in the airport at the same time. What more evidence does he need that Irish neutrality continues to be compromised while there is nothing in the Lisbon Treaty to suggest that this will change even after another referendum?”
Mr Barroso will also meet students and staff at the University of Limerick tomorrow afternoon. The 53-year-old former Portuguese prime minister was re-elected to the position of European Commission President yesterday and was quick to signal that his first priority was to get the Lisbon Treaty ratified to end EU institutional debates and that he would travel to Ireland tomorrow as part of that effort.