The Government is to give a loan to the three Irish men held in Colombia to pay bonds to the authorities.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, said the recent judgment provided for the men to be released on fulfilment of certain conditions under which the Colombian legal system termed "conditional freedom".
One of the conditions was that they were required to pay a bond, which would be repaid by the court at the end of their sentence.
"We understand that this bond, which amounts to 50 times the annual minimum wage in Colombia for each of the three men, comes to approximately €17,000 in total. In order to minimise any delay, and at the request of the men's defence team, the Department of Foreign Affairs has indicated its willingness to advance funds to cover the cost on the basis of a firm undertaking to repay this sum.
"The system of advancing funds to Irish citizens abroad, on condition that it is repaid, is a normal feature of the consular service provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs where people are unable to access their own funds easily."
Mr Kitt said that the Government had stressed to the Colombian authorities the importance of ensuring that the three men - Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan - received a fair trial in accordance with Colombian law.
"The fact that they were acquitted on the charge of training terrorists, despite a number of public statements by senior figures in Colombia to the effect that they were guilty of this offence, vindicates the approach taken by the Irish Government in this case."
The Minister of State was replying, on the adjournment, to the Independent TDs Mr Finian McGrath and Mr Tony Gregory, and Mr Seán Crowe (Sinn Féin, Dublin South West).
Mr McGrath said he challenged the "inflammatory and prejudicial interventions" of elements of the media, US and British politicians and some members of the House.
"Their attacks on the men, their families and the international observers were disgraceful," Mr McGrath said.
