The government has rejected calls from Europe's human rights watchdog to step up efforts to prevent American "rendition" flights using Irish airports.

The call came in a report published by the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg. He urged Dublin to "take effective measures" to prevent "extraordinary renditions" taking place "through Irish territory and airspace".

But in a formal response to the report, the Irish government rejected the need for more pro-active checks, saying "categoric" US assurances of no rendition flights using Irish territory are enough.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gx55JKQxlXSiWBRBMQu1i-p3_ZZQ