The Guardian 31 August, 2005
Government of Ireland extends
sovereign powers to US within Ireland
The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) has condemned a new "mutual legal assistance" agreement between the government and the United States. Under the agreement, US investigators, including CIA agents, will be allowed to interrogate Irish citizens, on Irish soil, in total secrecy. This can take place without the Irish state having to be informed that it is happening.
The CPI said these and other provisions make the Irish government and the Garda "mere messenger-boys for the US Attorney-General’s office".
The Irish authorities will be required to:
track people down in Ireland
transfer prisoners in Irish custody to the United States
carry out searches and seize evidence on behalf of the US government
allow the US authorities access to the private bank details of any Irish citizen.
The Irish government must keep all these activities secret. Suspects will have to give testimony and allow property to be searched and seized — even if what they are accused of is not illegal in Ireland.
The Irish Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, claims that this "instrument of agreement" merely updates existing agreements. But the Mutual Legal Assistance Instrument goes much further than the "Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition Treaty" signed between the European Union and the United States in June 2003.
The CPI concurred with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties when it stated that it was "an appalling signal of how the rights of Irish citizens are considered by the Minister when engaging in international relations".
When signing the agreement, McDowell stated that "the international community must do everything it can to combat terrorism with every means at its disposal … Ireland will not be found wanting".
This agreement between the Irish government and the United States has been made with the current US Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales, the man responsible for proposing the notorious "torture memo" to George W Bush, which set out how far CIA agents can go in torturing prisoners.
It is now estimated that there are more 20,000 immigrants in prison in the United States who have been charged with no crime.
The CPI said in a statement: "The government has in effect abandoned its guardianship over Irish citizens’ rights and handed them over to a foreign government.
"This agreement, coupled with the collaboration in the occupation of Iraq by allowing Shannon Airport to be used by US military aircraft travelling to and from Iraq, has torn up Irish sovereignty and any semblance of an independent foreign policy.
"We are now little more than an appendage of the United States and bear all the hallmarks of a fifty-third state, rather than that of a sovereign nation and people."