Martin assures Dáil of passports inquiry

MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has assured the Dáil all issues will be investigated regarding reports that Irish passports were used by members of a team allegedly involved in killing a senior Hamas official in Dubai.

Mr Martin told Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins that “we have already had contact with officials in the United Arab Emirates and our ambassador Ciaran Madden has sought clarification about what are media reports” of the issue.

He said of the reports: “We haven’t been in a position to verify or validate any of that yet.”

Concerns about the use of Irish passports followed the report of a press conference in Dubai on Monday at which the emirate’s police chief said three Irish passport-holders – one woman and two men – were among 11 people involved in the death in January of Mahmud al-Mabhour, a founding member of Hamas’s military wing.

The 11 people used six British passports, three Irish, a German and a French passport. Lieut Gen Dhali Khalfan Tamin said: “We have no doubt that it was 11 people holding these passports, and we regret that they used the travel documents of friendly countries.”

The issue was raised at question time as it emerged that 580,000 Irish passports were issued in 2009, of which 81,000 were issued through Irish diplomatic missions. Mr Timmins noted that 35,000 passports had gone missing since 2008 up to December 4th last.

Mr Timmins described it as an “extraordinarily high figure”, some 7 per cent of the total issued, and he asked how many of these were among the 81,000 passports issued abroad. “That’s 35,000 passports lying around the globe stolen, lost or misplaced, particularly when we’re on about international terrorism, about security. This is quite, quite startling, Minister,” he said.

Mr Martin warned: “I think we need to be cautious in drawing conclusions, particularly in terms of terrorism and all of that. I think we need to put it in perspective.”

The security aspects of passport production were a priority, he said. “That’s why it is retained in-house within the Department of Foreign Affairs.” Mr Timmins said it was a “very serious matter that Irish passports may have been falsely used” in the Dubai case, and he asked if the Minister had contacted the ambassadors of the other countries involved.

He asked if the matter had been raised with the UAE ambassador. Mr Martin said the new ambassador would present his credentials this week and “we will pursue these issues very thoroughly”.