asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state what steps he has taken to inquire into the manner in which the four Irish priests lost their lives in Manila; or if he can confirm the statement recently made by the American Minister in respect of this matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Priests in Manila.
The Deputy evidently refers to the reported deaths of the Very Reverend Father John Henaghan and the Reverend Fathers Patrick Kelly, Peter Fallon and Joseph Henry Monaghan, all of them members of the Maynooth Mission in Manila.
Towards the end of March last an unofficial report reached my Department that these four priests had been killed in the recent fighting in Manila. The Irish Minister at Washington and the Japanese Consul-General here were informed of the report by my Department and were asked to obtain as soon as possible such information as might be available regarding the circumstances of the reported deaths of these priests.
Towards the end of last month, the American authorities informed my Department, through the Minister at Washington, that, according to a despatch dated the 25th April received by them from Manila, Fathers Henaghan, Kelly and Fallon "were taken by the Japanese and probably killed by them" but that no information was available regarding Father Monaghan. A report in the same terms reached my Department a few days later—on the 29th May—through the American Legation in Dublin.
As far as the Japanese authorities are concerned, we have received an interim reply from them to our representations, and we are awaiting a further report from them conveying the results of detailed inquiries which we understand they are making into the matter. We have informed the Japanese authorities of the grave concern that is being caused by the reports that have reached us in the present case and in two other similar cases of Irishmen who are reported as having been killed in Manila.