asked the Minister for External Affairs why his Department took from the 23rd of June to the 27th June to decide to repatriate an Irish seaman in Bremen who was in distress and carried a recognised seaman's book.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Repatriation of Irish Seaman.
12.
Mr. Ryan
The statutory provisions governing the treatment of distressed seamen, which are contained in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1906 and the Distressed Seamen Regulations, 1921, do not oblige a diplomatic or consular officer to repatriate immediately any seaman who notifies the officer that he is in distress.
A seaman who informs a diplomatic or consular officer that he is in distress is entitled to relief and maintenance but only until employment can be found for him or arrangements made for his return to a proper return port. An Irish seaman who is in receipt of relief and who is unable to find suitable employment either on a ship or otherwise, is repatriated, preferably on an Irish or foreign ship returning to an Irish port or, if this is impracticable, by any other reasonable means.
The seaman named Heaney notified the Irish Embassy at Bonn on 23rd June, through the British Vice-Consul at Bremen, that he was in distress and received immediate relief. Accommodation was obtained for him in a seaman's hostel. The Embassy discussed with the British Consulate at Bremen the possibility of finding suitable employment for the seaman either in Bremen or Hamburg or, alternatively, of finding him a berth on a ship bound for an Irish port. Neither of these solutions to the problem was however practicable. It was, therefore, necessary to repatriate Heaney by ordinary transport.
Heaney was but one of a group of Irishmen, some of them seamen by profession, who had accepted employment with a German firm in June last and who had subsequently refused to work for the firm. The circumstances of these men were reported to the Embassy on the same day as the case of Heaney. The Embassy, which was greatly concerned at the position which had arisen and the possibility that as many as twenty-four men would have to be repatriated if no other solution to the problem was possible, kept in close contact with the German firm and with the Department in the matter. It eventually emerged that, of the total number of forty-eight, thirty-six were prepared to honour their engagement with the firm. The remainder were repatriated.
It will be appreciated that a full and proper examination of the case necessarily took a few days. There was no question of the men being destitute while this examination was in progress. Heaney and another member of the group, Martin, were accommodated in a seaman's hostel in Bremen which is comfortable and run on the lines of a hotel; the others were kept in a hostel belonging to the German fishing firm, the conditions of which are also good, as I mentioned in my reply to question No. 4 put by the Deputy on Wednesday, 13th July.
Mr. Ryan
Is the Minister aware that on the day Heaney applied for repatriation a colleague of his, an Irishman with a British passport, applied at the same time to the British Embassy, and does the Minister not agree that the treatment given by the Department of External Affairs of this country compares very unfavourably indeed with the treatment accorded the Irishman carrying a British passport, who was repatriated there and then? Is it not a fact that the Irish Embassy in Bonn did not communicate to the British Consul in Bremen that our Department of External Affairs was prepared to bear the cost of repatriating one of the men until the British authorities, out of decency and Christian charity, had themselves repatriated him and had so informed the Irish Embassy?
The Deputy is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
The British conditions are always better!
How would you know anything about it? You were not there.
This was not the usual case of a single seamen left behind without a ship, or who left his ship for some reason. It was a case of a number of men, and the Department of External Affairs is bound to make certain that the taxpayers' money is reasonably safeguarded. There was no hardship on this man. He was kept in reasonable conditions while the officers of the Department of External Affairs were examining the whole case.
Would the Minister not agree it would be a much better solution if the Government implemented the proposal to grant 100,000 jobs in this country?
Mr. Ryan
Further arising out of the Minister's reply, why did our Department have to take five or six days to do what another country could do in a few minutes? That is what I want to get at. If the Minister and the Government have no sense of shame, the Irish people have a sense of shame.
It is time the Deputy got a bit of sense. The people understand that if there are 24 men involved in a case of repatriation, which may cost quite a lot of money, the officials of the Department of External Affairs abroad have to be careful to see that the taxpayers' money is used in the best way. This was not the case of a single individual. At times in the year, the Department very often have to return a seaman in distress or who is left ashore in various ports, but this is a case of 24 people. The officials had to be careful to see in this case that the taxpayers' money was safeguarded.
Mr. Ryan
Further arising out of the Minister's reply——
Question No. 13.
Mr. Ryan
Why did the Irish Embassy not——
Deputies
Chair, Chair.
Mr. Ryan
The Minister and his Department are failing in their job and they do not like to be exposed.
The Deputy is exposing himself.