asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will specify the date on which the Government first protested to the Argentinian Government against the ill-treatment and imprisonment of Fr. Patrick Rice; and the length of time that had then elapsed since he was first imprisoned.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imprisonment of Priest.
24.
I would refer the Deputy to the questions on the Fr. Rice case answered on 4th November and 16th December, 1976. With regard to precise dates requested by the Deputy, the following is the sequence of events.
On 12th October, 1976, the Embassy in Buenos Aires learned that Fr. Rice was abducted on the previous day, the 11th October. The Ambassador made contact immediately with the Argentinian authorities with a view to ascertaining Fr. Rice's whereabouts. On 14th October the Ambassador established that Fr. Rice was in police custody and he sought permission at once to visit him. This permission was granted on 18th October and the Ambassador visited Fr. Rice on that date. Also on that date, after seeing Fr. Rice, the Ambassador raised with the Argentinian Foreign Minister personally the question of the detention and ill-treatment of Fr. Rice. On the following day, 19th October, a protest was also made in Dublin to the Argentinian Ambassador to Ireland.
Fr. Rice said on Tuesday, 1st March that he believed he could have been released after three weeks if an official Government protest at his treatment had been registered instead of the seven weeks he remained in custody. Obviously, he is incorrect in that.
I have a copy of the report the Deputy is talking about. I do not understand and the Department does not understand what Fr. Rice may have had in mind. I can only assume that either he misunderstood what had happened or that the pressmen to whom he spoke misunderstood what he was saying because after activity by the Irish Ambassador in Buenos Aires, only eight days elapsed between the priest's arrest and a formal protest being delivered here in Dublin to the Argentine Ambassador. That is not bad going, by any standards.
In view of Fr. Rice's statement it is necessary to clarify the position.
I cannot explain what Fr. Rice has in mind.
Questions Nos. 25 and 26 postponed.