Ahern satisfied with efforts to find missing Irish

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said everything is being done in Thailand to discover what has happened to three Irish people…

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said everything is being done in Thailand to discover what has happened to three Irish people who were caught up in the tsunami disaster.

Mr Ahern, has visited the new Victim Identification Centre, along with two senior Gardaí and said he had discussed with the people on the ground the whole issue of identification and repatriation of bodies.

The Minister is due to meet the family of one of the Irish people who is deemed to be at "high risk" tomorrow.

Three Irish people were on Phi-Phi Island on the day the wave struck, while a fourth was on the beach at Khao Lak. Of the four Irish missing, one has been identified - Ms Eilis Finnegan.

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Still missing are Ms Lucy Coyle from Killiney, Mr Conor Keightley from Co Tyrone and Mr Michael Murphy from Co Wexford.

Mr Keightley's family flew out to Thailand earlier in the week to search for him.

Mr Ahern said the Thai government had "come up to the mark" in terms of relief efforts, but he said he expects the situation to be much worse when he travels onto Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

The Minister defended the Government's allocation of €10 million to the aid effort and said the Government was more than willing to up that money if that is so required. He said they wanted to leave a footprint in Thailand and was discussing the establishment of a honorary consular position in the country.