Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 March 2013
85. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if consular or other assistance will be provided to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15480/13]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that this Department through our Consulate General in New York has been in direct contact with the named person’s lawyer and the NGO Reprieve regarding this person’s application for Irish citizenship via the Foreign Births Registration. Once the Irish citizenship of the person concerned has been established, we will seek to offer all consular assistance possible. However, the opportunity to provide consular assistance for dual nationals may be sometimes be limited by the laws of the host country and by international law and practice.
As the Deputy will be aware Ireland is adamantly opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and accordingly seeks its universal abolition. We continue to work in close cooperation with our EU partners in accordance with the common EU guidelines on the issue of the death penalty, to seek its universal abolition.
The EU guidelines, adopted in 1998, set out clearly the common EU position on the use of the death penalty. These guidelines seek, in the first instance, the universal abolition of the death penalty and state that where the death penalty still exists, the EU will continue to press for its use to be progressively restricted. The EU utilises every possible occasion to voice its concerns regarding the use of the death penalty and intervenes in cases which fall under the criteria set out in the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty. Ireland strongly supports these efforts.
