During the Adjournment Debate in the Seanad on May 29th last——
Personal Statement by Senator.
I take it the Senator wishes to make a personal statement.
Yes—the Minister for Justice, repeating his assertion five or six times, gave the House to understand that I had contacted Mr. Ralph Schoenman at Dublin Airport on his arrival, and/or at Mountjoy Gaol subsequently. Since I was not enabled, either during the Minister's speech or at the end of the debate, to state fully the true position in this connection, I now beg leave of the House to make the following personal statement:—
(1) I want to begin by saying most emphatically that if in fact I had seen or contacted Mr. Schoenman on the occasion of his short visit to Ireland, I should have felt myself under no obligation to apologise to anyone for having done so.
(2) I did not in fact see him, however, or contact him, either at Dublin Airport, or at Mountjoy Gaol, or at any other place during his stay in Ireland.
(3) He did not communicate with me in any way on that occasion, or in connection with that occasion, nor I with him, either directly or indirectly.
(4) Consequently, the information about our alleged meeting at Dublin Airport and/or at Mountjoy Gaol, upon which the Minister based his charge of hypocrisy against me—when I asked for the reasons why Mr. Schoenmen was refused entry—was information which was not only grossly inaccurate but completely devoid of any foundaation in fact.
(5) Lastly, the source of this information about me, some of which concerned events alleged to have taken place within the precincts of a State prison under the jurisdiction of the Minister, has been shown, in the light of the easily verifiable facts which I have here publicly and categorically stated, to be totally undeserving of the Minister's trust.