Vol. 372 No. 6
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the investigations, if any, which have been held into allegations that an official at the Irish Embassy in London has been involved in the sale of forged Irish passports; the outcome of any such investigations; the measures being taken to protect the reputation of Irish passports; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
4.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the changes, if any, introduced in the procedures for processing and issuing passports in the Irish Embassy in London and other passport issuing agencies arising out of the recent passports for sale controversy.
8.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the investigation into the allegations of the sale of passports scandal in the Irish Embassy in London has been concluded; and if so, the result of the investigation.
9.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs in view of the recent irregularities in the Irish Embassy in London the steps, if any, he has undertaken to uphold the reputation of the Irish passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
14.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason no arrests have been made in connection with the alleged sale of Irish passports to foreign nationals in the Irish Embassy in London; the total number of passports suspected to have been sold; the measures taken to ensure that no person holding a fake Irish passport may profit from the use of that passport, and that there can be no recurrence of this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
17.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of passports involved in the irregularities in the Irish Embassy in London.
31.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the present position regarding the official in the Irish Embassy in London who was at the centre of the recent passports for sale allegations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
33.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, he has taken in connection with the abuse of passports at the Irish Embassy in London indicating the investigations he has directed; the reports and findings which have resulted; the steps, if any, now being taken to ensure that there will be no further abuse of Irish passports; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
38.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the findings of the investigation into the passport irregularities in the Irish Embassy in London; the measures, if any, he has taken to ensure that such irregularities will not occur again.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 4, 8, 9, 14, 17, 31, 33 and priority Question No. 38 together.
Allegations concerning irregularities in the issue of Irish passports at the embassy in London were published in a British newspaper on Sunday 12 April. The previous Thursday on foot of information received from the newspaper my Department began an internal inquiry into the allegations. The following day, Friday, the British authorities were informed and an official at the embassy was removed from his duties. He was subsequently suspended under the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956.
In the light of the internal inquiry and in view of the gravity of the allegations the Government decided that investigations should be carried out by the Garda authorities with the co-operation of the British police. These investigations are continuing. Their purpose is to identify all or any passports that may have been irregularly issued with a view to having them recalled and to investigate any further action or legal proceedings that may be necessary. To date the investigation has identified 60 cases which require further examination by the Garda and by the British police.
The question of possible prosecutions is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions in the jurisdiction in which offences may have been committed. At the request of the British authorities, the Government immediately agreed to waive the diplomatic immunity of an official of the embassy to enable him to help the British police with their investigations.
In so far as passport procedures are concerned, a senior official from the Department of Finance has been appointed to carry out a full examination and to make recommendations designed to prevent the incorrect or irregular issue of Irish passports. Pending completion of that review my Department have taken steps to ensure that our passport and consular procedures are strictly adhered to.
I should like to take this opportunity to assure the Dáil of the Government's determination to preserve the integrity and high standing of the Irish passport. They will ensure that the investigations into the allegations are vigorously pursued. They will also make every effort to see that any person who may have been responsible for offences faces legal proceedings, to identify and obtain the return of all passports that may have been incorrectly or improperly issued and to remedy any deficiencies in our passport procedures and provisions.
Can the Minister give some indication to the House as to when the investigations will be concluded? Can he also give more positive information as to the steps being taken to protect the reputation of the Irish passport? There is much concern by our travellers that their passports are looked upon with suspicion at various frontiers. I would like an assurance from the Minister that he will do everything he possibly can to uphold the reputation, the validity and the integrity of the Irish passport.
On the first point, there is a very active police investigation continuing, with the Irish and British police co-operating. The matter is made more difficult because investigations into various people who obtained passports in suspicious circumstances have to take place outside the embassy. The examining of affidavits and certificates issued by British lawyers and British offices takes time. The matter is a very complicated one but the full investigation procedures are being followed and interrogations are taking place with a view to assembling the facts which would sustain a prosecution within the British jurisdiction. In regard to the integrity of Irish passports — I share the Deputy's concern in that regard — if it emerges that passports were illegally obtained we will see to it that they are either recalled or cancelled in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the Irish passport.
I want the Minister to clarify one point. He said that 60 cases have been discovered. Have the passports been withheld in these cases?
I was very careful in that I said suspicious circumstances attached to 60 passports. That means these are passports that are being specifically investigated in the manner which I mentioned, which require investigations outside the passport office in the embassy and require interrogation of various witnesses and examinations into various British offices to confirm whether the initial suspicion is justified. Sixty passports were issued in what prima facie are suspicious circumstances but there is no legal proof yet to sustain a prosecution.
May I ask the Minister the present position regarding the official in question in the Irish Embassy? The Minister said he was suspended. Is he in Britain and do the Department of Foreign Affairs know his whereabouts?
As far as the Department of Foreign Affairs are concerned, we are not an investigatory agency. The official is suspended from our service. For all practical purposes, he has left the Civil Service and has not reappeared since his suspension. His whereabouts and to what degree he can be apprehended for questioning or anything of that kind is entirely a matter for the British police who carry their jurisdictional role in that respect.
Can I ask——
Order, I want to bring in as many Deputies as possible who have tabled questions in relation to this subject matter.
May I ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs will he not agree that if any offence took place in the Irish Embassy in London the embassy have extra-territorial status and, consequently, any investigations or prosecutions that arise should more properly take place in this country rather than have British investigation officers going into the Irish Embassy and carrying out investigations there? Can the Minister explain to the House why this matter appears to have been handed over to the British authorities when it took place on Irish soil, within the Irish Embassy? Can the Minister explain the long delay in determining whether these passports were falsely obtained? Surely quick research on this matter was important and would show by now what passports were shown to be false and that steps had been taken to recall them. Have any of them been traced or have any steps been taken to trace them? After all, quite some period has elapsed since the discovery was made.
I do not like disabusing the Deputy who is a lawyer but embassies do not have the extra jurisdictional position under international law to which the Deputy referred. Personnel working in the embassy have certain immunities but the embassy is in British jurisdiction and the British police carry the jurisdictional function in regard to any offence committed in their jurisdiction. The Garda have, of course, been facilitated fully and the co-operation is very welcome as far as both police forces are concerned. This is a criminal investigation. As regards the speed of operation, we moved immediately on the matter but the problem did not lie within the embassy. The files were in order and no case arose from an examination of the files. The matter which gave rise to suspicion, and which may give rise to a prosecution, arose outside the embassy — in the British offices concerned with certificates of marriage, birth certificates with the preparation of affidavits in solicitor's offices and so on. It is essential that these investigations should be concluded in order to prepare a prima facie case which would be sustainable in court. Any evidence obtained in the Irish Embassy, on its own, would not sustain a case in court. That is the reality.
Would the Minister not agree that his immediate concern should be for Irish citizens with passports living in Britain and the approximately 30 million trans-Irish Sea travellers each year? Despite the fact that we have a free passport union between the two countries, our people are required to have passports because of the operation of the PTA in Britain, and it is imperative that without delay the Irish Government should communicate directly to the British Government the number of passports, and only those passports, which they believe to be suspect in order to clear beyond all doubt the validity of the remaining passports. Is the Minister in a position to indicate when the Irish authorities will be able to put a ring around those passports which are suspect to ensure that no doubt will remain about the other passports? That is the nub of the problem from the point of view of the Irish citizens living in Britain and travelling between the two countries.
Out of 200,000 passports issued in recent years which have been examined——
From London?
Yes; we have narrowed the area of suspicious passports — and I use the word advisedly — to 60, and it may be reduced further. I am anxious to follow up the point made by the Deputy to reassure all those who hold legitimate Irish passports and who got their passports from the London office. We are coming to the stage where criminal prosecutions will proceed in respect of some passports or passports will be cancelled, and there will be a definite affirmation by the Irish Government that all remaining passports are valid.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Would he not agree it is essential that British immigration officials at all points of entry — particularly at sea crossings which are used by large numbers of young Irish people who have not been so much harassed as intensively interrogated by British officials under the Prevention of Terrorism Act — and not just officials in Whitehall, should be informed that there are only 60 suspicious Irish passports and not the number they would wish to suggest?
I agree with the Deputy and we hope to narrow the figure down from that ceiling of 60. When that happens we will consider something along the lines the Deputy suggests because it is important to restore what is undoubtedly a highly respected passport not just in Britain but throughout the world. I appreciate the tenor of the Deputy's question which is to restore integrity to the Irish passport, particularly in Britain.
May I refer to a reply the Minister made earlier? He seemed to say it would depend on an offence being committed in Britain in the presentation of a false Irish passport to obtain a marriage certificate, or other legal document, to see whether those passports were invalidated or if an offence has been committed in the embassy. My understanding of what the Minister said is that we cannot assume offences were committed in the embassy by the issuing of invalid passports. Is that correct?
What has happened is as follows: the file in the embassy was maintained correctly. It is the backup documentation — marriage certificates, birth certificates, affidavits which are essential to secure a passport — that is being investigated in 60 cases. The files in the embassy are correct.
With respect, is the Minister saying that criminal offence was committed by people outside the embassy? If the file in the embassy is in order, why was this man suspended?
This is what I have been saying, and this is why the British police are essential in investigating this matter. The embassy official was suspended because he appeared to admit to this in an interview to a reporter from The People. The matter was investigated and what was discovered was a very carefully thought out fraud involving the preparation of back-up documentation to passport applications secured outside the embassy, and presented to the embassy. This is being investigated at present by the only people who could investigate it, the British police authorities.
Is the Minister suggesting that the back-up information was brought to the embassy and accepted by the embassy official in the knowledge that it was false? Is that the allegation which is being investigated?
This is the area which is being examined by the police. This is the heart of the matter. This aspect is being investigated by the British police in co-operation with the Irish police. This is primarily a matter for the British police when one considers the facts that I have given the House. I want to pay a tribute to the Irish Garda who have helped enormously in the examination of the files in the embassy.
The Minister suggested earlier that the Department did not know the whereabouts of the official concerned and were not likely to see him again. Has the official been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, or has he been sacked?
The latter point will come up for consideration but as of now he is temporarily suspended.
Deputy De Rossa is offering and I will call Deputy Griffin to finalise questions on this matter.
I do not propose to go over the ground covered by other Deputies. Is the Minister satisfied that the person who has been suspended and is under suspicion is the only person in the embassy who may have been involved in this matter? The reason I ask is that we have had reports of false Irish passports being used in the so called Irangate scandal in the United States.
Let us not extend the scope of this question, that is a separate matter.
The Irish passport has been brought into disrepute on two occasions recently, one in relation to the Irangate affair and now in relation to the embassy in London. Is the Minister satisfied that all possible steps have been taken to clear up both incidents and that we can be certain that people travelling abroad on Irish passports will be guaranteed free passage?
The matter is being investigated in all its ramifications as they pertain to the London embassy. I will await the outcome of the investigation before I make a comment or come to specific conclusions.
Is any other embassy under suspicion of issuing forged passports? I understand that a commercial technological firm offered assistance to the Department of Foreign Affairs to introduce criminal proof equipment which would detect the type of fraud about which we have been talking. Will the Minister recommend to his Department that they should look at this type of equipment so that there will not be a repetition of cases of this kind?
The Deputy is introducing new matter.
I know of the report to which the Deputy refers but no technology would have detected the sophisticated nature of this fraud which only relates to the London office and bears no relationship to anything that may have happened in regard to Iran. It relates to Moroccan ladies who were involved in the receipt of these passports.
The Minister has told the House that there is a suspicion of fraud in relation to 60 passports. Has a letter been sent to each of the holders of those passports saying that a suspicion attaches to the Irish passport which he or she holds and asking that it be returned to the Department of Foreign Affairs or the embassy until the matter is resolved? If a letter to that effect has not been sent, why not?
I am surprised at the Deputy who is a lawyer. These cases are being actively investigated by the police in Britain at the moment. We are not talking about suspicion but of proof.
