asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will obtain additional information in relation to Irish soldiers killed or wounded in Elizabethville and Jadotville from the United Nations as distinct from that contained in the UN reports placed in the Library.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Army Casualties Overseas.
14.
Following the Deputy's previous question, my Department approached the United Nations Secretariat with a view to ascertaining whether there were any further reports which could be made available dealing with events in Elizabethville and Jadotville——
Will the Minister obey the Chair?
The Chair called me to reply to Question No. 14.
The Chair called Deputy Dowling.
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's reply I wish to raise the subject matter of the question on the Adjournment.
I will communicate with the Deputy. Question No. 14.
Following the Deputy's previous questions, my Department approached the United Nations Secretariat with a view to ascertaining whether there were any further reports which could be made available dealing with events in Elizabethville and Jadotville in which Irish soldiers were killed in Elizabethville or wounded in those two places, additional to the more general reports on UN operations in the Congo already placed in the Library of the House. In reply the Secretariat has indicated that there are no other reports which they can make available in the matter.
The position is, therefore, that all available information from UN sources has been placed at the disposal of the Deputy.
It has been suggested to me that the United Nations reports which have been placed in the Library are inaccurate in many respects.
A question, Deputy Dowling, please.
In view of the inaccuracies in the reports which the Minister has indicated are in the Library of the House would he ensure that some further information is made available in relation to the deaths and injuries of Irish soldiers in Jadotville and Elizabethville? There is conflict even between those reports and the book of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, To Katanga and Back. I understand that the report in the book is correct and varies from the United Nations reports in the Library.
The Deputy should seek information not impart it.
The Minister in the leisure of retirement some 20 years hence might be interested in looking into these historical matters. In the meantime the Minister has no other information at his disposal and can secure no other information from the United Nations to answer the Deputy's question.
Have the Department of Defence any information in relation to the matter?
The Department of Defence have no other information, as I have told the Deputy already.
The only things we have, therefore, are inaccurate reports.
Question No. 15.
The only things we have are United Nations reports which are in the Library of the Dáil.
Will the Minister try to ascertain if there is any other information available?
I have spent some months trying to ascertain what information there is and no further information is available to me from any of the sources mentioned by the Deputy.
It is not a coverup job, is it?
The question is un-called for. I have sought all possible information and have received a message from the United Nations saying they have no further information they can make available. The information they have is information which will not be published for a long period, probably not during the lifetime of the people who were involved in these events, events that affect the lives and deaths of the particular people concerned. No further information is available to me on the Deputy's question.
So there is no information available?
Order. I have called the next question.
No information is available to me other than——
I have called the next question.
It is not the practice to publish information beyond those reports and there is no way I can get the information.
Arising out of——
Question No. 15 has been called.
I take it from the Minister's reply there is information available which is not generally made available to the Minister?
The United Nations have their own documents; and just as Governments have rules for the period of publication of documents, the United Nations are in the position that they have no rule enabling them to publish any further documentation than the published report. There is no provision for its publication and there is no means by which this Government can get the information. There is nothing further I can do for the Deputy much as I would like to help.