Vol. 315 No. 1
asked the Minister for Justice if he will make a statement on the recent incident at Shannon Estuary where two Chilean refugees landed by ship and were then lodged in Limerick prisons; if both were political refugees and have been returned to Chile and, if so, the date they were returned.
103.
asked the Minister for Justice if two persons were found as stowaways on a ship on its arrival in Limerick from Chile and, if so, what subsequently happened to the persons involved.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 102 and 103 together.
A ship arrived in Foynes from Brazil on 30 May with two Chilean stowaways on board. The captain had made arrangements to have them flown back to Brazil. The stowaways were formally refused permission to enter the State and were that morning escorted to Shannon Airport where they embarked on the first stage of their journey to Brazil. The question of political asylum was not raised and the stowaways were not brought to a prison.
