Dan Neville
Question:168 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of Irish citizens who remain unaccounted for following the Asia tsunami; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2658/05]
View answerWednesday, 2 February 2005
Questions (125, 126)
Jan O'Sullivan
Question:182 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the efforts made by the Irish Ambassador and Embassy staff in Malaysia to assist in the search for Irish victims of the tsunami disaster in South Asia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2774/05]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 182 together.
So far, there are two confirmed Irish casualties. There are two other Irish people still missing in Thailand and who I very much regret to say seem most unlikely to be found alive at this stage. There is a small number of others whom my Department are still trying to contact but who are regarded as low risk as they were mostly notified to us by friends rather than family. We have no reason to believe at this stage that they were anywhere near the worst affected areas.
When the disaster occurred on 26 December, the Department immediately established a crisis response centre with a number of emergency help line numbers to assist relatives and friends enquiring about Irish people in the affected areas. The crisis centre received over 3,000 calls concerning over 1,200 Irish people who were thought to be in the areas affected by the tsunami.
On 27 December, the Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, who is also accredited to Thailand, went to Phuket and set up an office to assist in locating and helping Irish people in that area. An additional officer from headquarters also went there to assist as did staff from the Honorary Consulate in Bangkok. In addition, the First Secretary from the Irish Embassy in New Delhi, who was in Sri Lanka at the time of the disaster, immediately began providing consular assistance from the office of the Honorary Consul in Colombo. These were the areas most affected as far as Irish people were concerned.
The ambassador and his staff searched for Irish people in the Phuket area and helped Irish people there to be evacuated. Advertisements were placed in an English language paper in Thailand asking Irish people in Thailand to contact home or to make contact with a local representative on the ground. The ambassador worked with the local authorities, hospitals and other embassies to help trace and assist Irish citizens. Embassy staff also assisted relatives of missing Irish citizens and dealt with repatriation procedures.
The Garda Síochána has also been actively involved in this process. A special Garda incident room was established in Dublin which has worked closely with the consular section of my Department in tracing people reported to the crisis centre. The gardaí arranged for DNA samples to be taken from relatives of possible Irish victims to assist in the process of identifying the bodies of foreign nationals recovered in the Phuket area. In addition, a Garda team went to Phuket to support our embassy staff and in particular to liaise with the forensic authorities there.
The ambassador was greatly helped by a number of Irish citizens in Phuket who volunteered to assist the embassy team there. This assistance was greatly appreciated.
My Department is continuing to provide consular assistance to the families of Irish citizens who are still unaccounted for. In this context, I have announced my intention to establish an Honorary Consulate in Phuket. Pending its formal establishment, I have appointed an Irish resident there, Ms Fallon Wood, to represent the Department there and to act as a point of contact in regard to the search for Irish citizens missing in that area.
Question No. 169 answered with QuestionNo. 95.