Deputy O'Kennedy has been given permission to put a Private Notice Question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will Deputy O'Kennedy please read the question?
Private Notice Question. - Trial of Irish Priest.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government will arrange to be legally or formally represented at the trial of Fr. Niall O'Brien which is due to commence in the Philippines on Tuesday, 7 February, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I have made arrangements to ensure that a representative of the Government will be present at the proceedings. In addition to our Honorary Consul in the Philippines who attended earlier proceedings I have directed that the First Secretary of the Embassy in Canberra should go immediately to the Philippines.
As I indicated in my reply to a question on 13 December 1983, this matter is one of great and continuing concern to me. In addition to other official representations on behalf of Fr. O'Brien, I personally met the Philippines Foreign Minister in New York in September 1983 to impress upon him directly our concern in this case.
Subsequently I have been in further contact with the Philippine Government on the matter. I have also kept a close watch on developments through our Honorary Consul in Manila and with the help of diplomatic channels of another country one of whose citizens is also involved.
I want to thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this question which I am raising in the absence of our spokesman on Foreign Affairs and his deputy who unfortunately are not available. I should like to thank the Minister for his prompt response. The Minister and the nation will probably have heard the very dramatic and courageous statements by Fr. O'Brien on the news programmes in which he described the trial procedures as obscene and blasphemous, his words not mine. He called the witnesses a pathetic group of stooges. Those expressions were particularly courageous in the circumstances. I welcome what the Minister has said in view of the significance of this not just for Fr. O'Brien but for all the Columban Fathers out there. I hope the Minister will go further and ensure that we will have what Fr. Martin — the Superior in the Philippines — has called for, a person to person representation at the highest and most constant level to ensure that this obscene and blasphemous procedure before which one of our citizens, who is a missionary, is being tried at the moment will not operate in the fashion in which it has operated hitherto. I ask the Minister to use every avenue open to him to ensure that Fr. O'Brien's position and that of his fellow Columban priests will be protected in the Philippines.
My action in instructing our Consul in Canberra to go to the Philippines was in response to the announcement of the date of the trial. I acted immediately I heard this on Tuesday. My Department and I personally have been in constant contact with the Columban Fathers. I spoke to the Superior General of the order within the past two hours. He is appreciative and as concerned as I am sure the Deputy is and as I have expressed myself to be, that nothing should be done which would in any way hinder Fr. O'Brien from receiving a fair trial. He has a number of contacts himself. I have undertaken that anything the Government intend to do will be done after consultation and discussion with him. The message I conveyed to him and which I am now conveying to the House is that everything said and done should be in Fr. O'Brien's interest and not for any other reason.
I support the Minister entirely in that position. I quoted the courageous statements made by Fr. O'Brien which he was aware were being listened to by the authorities.
I heard them and I was very impressed.
I appreciate the Minister's response but do I understand from him that the response he has now indicated was the result of a decision taken only today?
That is the point I made. It was taken when we heard the date fixed for the trial which was Tuesday night — yesterday morning.
The decision was taken yesterday morning?
That is when the date of the trial became known.
The problem has been there for some considerable time.
Let me be quite clear on this. I do not like what I sense to be the inference in what the Deputy is saying. I said I was in constant touch with this case since I came into office. I spoke personally to the foreign minister of the Philippines last September.
The former foreign minister.
Exactly. He was changed in the past month.
He has been displaced.
Can I finish, a Cheann Comhairle?
Deputy O'Kennedy is a great reader of the papers.
The electorate made a decision that I should be here and not Deputy O'Kennedy, so I ask him to bear with me. I spoke to the foreign minister who was the foreign minister at that time and expressed my concern about it. We have had constant contacts since then with the Philippine Government and the Columban Fathers about this case. I do not accept the inference I sense in the Deputy's question, that we were somewhat tardy in reacting. We could decide to send somebody to attend the trial only when we knew the date of the trial, which became known late on Tuesday night or early yesterday morning. I reacted very promptly then.
As one of the few people in this House who met Fr. O'Brien before his re-arrest last year, I welcome very much the Minister's decision to send somebody out there. In view of the publicity and the concern expressed through the media, could I ask the Minister in what other way did he keep in touch with the whole situation during the long period when the trial was in suspension waiting for a decision? Were there any other actions he took which he can assure the House were the actions he had to take in order to ensure that this trial was continued and completed as quickly as possible?
I have already listed the action I took in meeting the foreign minister, which was unprecedented. The Department have been in constant touch——
Was that not at the United Nations?
Yes, of course it was.
That is quite regular as the Minister knows.
The Minister should be allowed to answer the question without interruption.
He said it was unprecedented.
It is unprecedented to seek out the foreign minister of another country to complain about a trial which was taking place.
Not at all. It is not unprecedented.
I will have to accept an example of when the Deputy did it himself when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs. As I said, I sought out the foreign minister to express the concern of the Irish Government about this case when I was at the United Nations meeting. Since then we have contacted the Philippine Government a number of times. Prior to that we were in constant touch with the Order of which Fr. O'Brien is a member and with the family of Fr. O'Brien on numerous occasions in the past 18 months.
Can the Minister confirm that an official of his Department was appointed to keep in close touch with the family and the priests?
That is correct.
I will not have a debate on this. Deputy Noel Treacy.
May I ask the Minister——
I have called Deputy Noel Treacy.
Is the Minister aware that the alleged crime for which Fr. O'Brien was in jail and is standing trial for on next Tuesday was committed on 12 March 1982 and that Fr. O'Brien was out of the island from 8 February 1982 to 22 April 1982? Is he further aware that an illegal organisation, the National People's Army, have claimed responsibility for the murder of this town mayor? Could he inform the House as to the outcome of his negotiations with the Philippine representative at the United Nations? Is he further aware that the Australian Foreign Minister is going to visit the island of Negros next week? Is he further aware that the Irish community and the Columban Fathers in the Philippines are completely disappointed with the stand being taken and the pressure being applied by the Irish Government?
That is not true.
Could he tell us what co-operation——
That is incorrect.
It is not incorrect.
A Deputy
It is slanderous.
Can the Minister inform the House what co-ordination there has been with the Austrialian Foreign Office and the United States Embassy?
Order. I hope Deputies will bear with me for a minute. This is a very serious matter and I urge that it should be treated in a serious way. The question asks the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government will arrange to be legally or formally represented at the trial of Fr. Niall O'Brien which is due to commence in the Philippines on Tuesday, 7 February, and if he will make a statement on this matter. I respectfully suggest to the House that that is not a platform for a debate on the whole problem out there. We might end up with statements which might not be helpful to anyone. I suggest it should be treated in that way. As a matter of fact, I think Deputy O'Kennedy has got all the information he wants and it should be left at that.
Could I ask the Minister——
I should like to answer.
Could I ask the Minister to give the House a piece of information which does not have any immediate connection with Fr. O'Brien's case but which I think would interest the House. Does the Minister know off the top of his head — perhaps he does not — whether the Philippines are a beneficiary of the development aid programme conducted by this State? They certainly were at one stage to my recollection, when the ESB were running a programme for them. Can the Minister say whether they are still in receipt of development aid from this country?
I am reasonably certain that they are not. As regards the unwarranted inferences in Deputy Treacy's question, I am surprised that he should try to make some kind of football out of this very serious matter. There is no truth in the allegation that the Columban Fathers are dissatisfied with what the Irish Government are doing. It is quite the reverse.
(Interruptions.)
I wish to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy but I would remind him of the time factor. The remaining questions will appear on next Tuesday's Order Paper.