Vol. 504 No. 7
130 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will review the guidelines in place in Irish embassies for dealing with cases where Irish citizens are robbed when abroad and approach the embassy for assistance in view of the experience of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9. [12541/99]
The assistance given when an Irish citizen is robbed or in other ways is a victim of crime abroad and contacts an embassy includes helping the person to make a formal report to the police, to liaise with a local doctor or hospital and/or to get in touch with relatives or friends in Ireland. If a passport is among items stolen, the embassy can issue an emergency passport.
If a person whose money is stolen wishes, the embassy advances funds on the basis of an equivalent amount being lodged, through the Garda Síochána if necessary, with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin; there is a statutory fee of £25 for that service. Alternatively, money can be transferred through commercial channels, information about which the Embassy can provide.
Embassies themselves have no funds from which to make direct payments to or on behalf of victims of crime.
The embassy mentioned by the Deputy receives a large number of telephone calls from Irish citizens who have been robbed and it would not be practical to keep records of all of them. While no member of the staff has a specific recollection of speaking to the person named, one staff member does remember receiving a call from a man in another city in that country stating that he had been robbed but who did not give his name nor ask for any particular form of assistance.
If the Deputy can give more details of the complaint further inquiries will be made in the matter and, if necessary, procedures arising from the case may be reviewed.
