asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will inquire into the reasons a team of four nuns and a lay worker were refused admission to Ethiopia by the authorities there; if they have given any reason for their refusal to admit persons anxious to help in promoting famine relief programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Admission to Ethiopia.
13.
I have made inquiries into this matter and I have been informed by the Medical Missionaries of Mary, under whose auspices these people were travelling to Ethiopia, that none of them has been refused visas by the Ethiopian authorities. One of them, a lay nurse, received her visa at the end of November and travelled to Ethiopia on 22 December. The four nursing sisters applied for their visas in early December and their applications are currently being processed by the Ethiopian authorities. I am informed by the Medical Missionaries of Mary that there has been no undue delay in the processing of these applications and that they have no reason to believe that the visas will not be issued in the near future.
I am also informed that the Medical Missionaries of Mary were given to understand that the visas for the four sisters might be issued before Christmas. On the basis of this information, the Medical Missionaries made provisional bookings for the four sisters to travel on 22 December. When it became clear that the visas would not be available before Christmas, those bookings were cancelled. This may have given rise to the misunderstanding that the visas were refused or unnecessarily delayed but, as I have said, this is not the case.