Vol. 287 No. 8
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is aware of the imprisonment in France of an Irish citizen (details supplied) for the past three months, without any charges having been brought; and if he will have the case investigated in the interests of justice.
23.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the efforts he has made for the release of an Irish citizen (name supplied) who is at present held in custody by the French Government.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to reply to Questions Nos. 22 and 23 together.
The Minister has been aware of this case since last October when the person referred to was charged by the French authorities with the possession of explosives and attempting to reconstitute a banned movement.
The person referred to is also a French citizen and is being treated as such by the French authorities. He did not, on becoming a naturalised Irish citizen, renounce his original French citizenship. It is not, therefore, possible for the Government to intervene formally with the French Government on his behalf on the usual grounds of consular protection.
The Minister has, however, sought information on the case from the French authorities and he has conveyed to them the concern which many Irish people feel at the continued detention of the person involved.
I appreciate the Government's difficulty because Mr. Fouéré has dual nationality—Irish and French. As a citizen of the EEC, the Government could have approached the case in this way. I want to emphasise that I am not criticising the French Government but, in the interests of justice, this man should be brought to trial or at least given bail. He has been in the Santé prison in Paris since last October. This offends against our sense of justice. I am sure the French Government would yield to the Irish Government if they were to plead on the grounds that we are both members of the EEC and in the interests of justice this man should be at least allowed out on bail.
The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot offer any comment on French justice. The Department's information, and the family of Mr. Fouéré agree, that he is not being treated any differently from other accused persons in his category. In other words, I cannot offer a comment on French justice but our information is that there is no element of discrimination, relative to the ordinary standards of French justice, in the way he is being treated.
Will the Minister continue to make representations?
Certainly.
In view of this case and, I am not saying this is similar to the Creegan case, would the Minister consider making representations for the harmonisation of criminal procedure within the Community, particularly with regard to the detention of persons held in custody pending trial?
Would Fianna Fáil vote for that if it applied north and south of the Border?
This is exactly what Fianna Fáil were endeavouring to do rather than——
That is a separate matter.
That is a very strange reaction from the Parliamentary Secretary.
The Deputy began his supplementary question by saying that he saw the difference between this case and the case which arose here last year in connection with Mr. Creegan. Not only is there a difference, but there is all the difference in the world, because Mr. Creegan was an Irish national. No complication arose through dual nationality, or anything else, and the State was not only entitled but bound to offer the ordinary consular protection by way of formal intervention with the Belgian authorities. The case of Mr. Fouéré is, for the reasons I have explained, entirely different and any interventions made must be made on an informal basis.
I accept that one is an Irish citizen and the other has dual citizenship but what I am talking about is that in both cases people were held for considerable periods before trial. I cannot allow the Parliamentary Secretary to misinterpret me——
We are now having an extension of the question into other cases and I cannot allow that.
Of course, it would be very desirable that criminal law would be harmonised as between countries that are in a process of progressive political integration and I do not feel this Government have anything to apologise for in connection with what was done and which I saw being implicitly admired last week by the German Foreign Minister.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary tell the House when the Minister for Foreign Affairs first made informal representations to the French Government in the matter of Mr. Fouéré's detention, the number of times since then that representations were made and the response of the French Government to such representations?
I have not that information. The Minister was contacted by the family of Mr. Fouéré exactly two weeks after his arrest; he was arrested on 20th October.
The information sought by Deputy Molloy is crucial.
Did the Minister make any representations at all?
The Fouéré family can tell us when they met the Minister and all we want to know is when the Minister made his representations.
I have not that information.
Are we to take it that no representations were made?
No. I have told the House that representations were made but I cannot give the date. I will give the date if another question is put down.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary be prepared on this occasion also to accept the good offices of Deputy Tunney to bring the matter to a successful conclusion?
On a point of information, would the Parliamentary Secretary give me the information I am seeking in a letter?
I will.
