I am glad to have been given the opportunity of raising the need to revoke the citizenship granted to Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfooz, an associate and supporter of Osama bin Laden. If Ireland is to have any credibility in the fight against international terrorism, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform must immediately revoke the Irish citizenship granted in dubious circumstances by his Fianna Fáil predecessor in 1990 to Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfooz and his family.
It now transpires that Sheikh Mahfooz is a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden. Shortly after citizenship was granted and passports given to him by the then Fianna Fáil Taoiseach at a special luncheon in the Shelbourne Hotel, it became clear that Sheikh Mahfooz was wanted in America and elsewhere as a major international crook and swindler. The chickens have really come home to roost in that evidence has been produced that Sheikh Mahfooz has been a major financial backer of the international terrorist network headed by his brother-in-law, Osama bin Laden. The evidence is that Mahfooz and the financial institutions which he either owned or with which he was associated channelled millions of dollars by way of payments directly to Osama bin Laden or to bin Laden's front organisations Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief. One of his family served on the board of one of these front organisations.
Citizenship was granted and passports issued to Mahfooz and his family in the most dubious circumstances. We do not yet have the report of the Moriarty tribunal which fortunately is inquiring into what may have been outrageously corrupt practices in the issue of some of these and other passports for sale between 1989 and 1994. What is clear at this stage is that, in about three days between 6 and 9 December 1990, the applications were completed, naturalisation finalised and passports issued, despite the fact the applicants did not comply with the requirements regarding residency or production of evidence of good character which were the basis on which the scheme was supposed to be run at the time.
I demand on behalf of Fine Gael that citizenship in these cases be revoked immediately. The Minister has power under section 21 of the Irish Naturalisation and Citizenship Act to revoke the certificates of naturalisation. It is bad enough that the name of Ireland should have been besmirched by granting citizenship to international crooks. It is totally unacceptable that we should issue passports and give citizenship to those who are associated with and financially support Osama bin Laden.
Members of the Government, some of whom were also involved in Government when these applications for citizenship were granted, must be aware that the circumstances surrounding the applications were fraudulent. That in itself is a ground for revocation. The Minister is also entitled to revoke when the person to whom citizenship has been granted has by any overt act failed in his duty of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State. Surely the support given to international terrorism by Sheikh Mahfooz provides grounds for revocation under this heading. In any event, the fact that the applicants never resided in Ireland is in itself a ground for revocation.
There is a political imperative to take action now in this matter. How citizenship was granted and passports issued by the Fianna Fáil Government at the time has yet to be fully explained. Whatever the circumstances, this country cannot be associated with those who have supported international terrorism, especially those supporting Osama bin Laden. The citizenship in these cases should be revoked now.