Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 118: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the efforts he and his Department has made in attempting to locate a person (details supplied). [16817/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department has been providing consular assistance to the family of the missing person since being notified of the matter on 27 February this year. The Embassy of Ireland in New Delhi immediately alerted the relevant authorities and asked that full assistance be given in tracing the person. The Embassy advised the family on various sources of local information, such as traveller's forums which allowed the family to tap into the traveller's network and get practical help such as posting notices and translating into Hindi and Hebrew as appropriate.

The Embassy also confirmed details of the person's Indian visa and checked with the Indian authorities whether an extension had been granted or not.

After the person's belongings were found, a hugely significant milestone in the case, a Consular official travelled to Rishikesh to see the area and meet with the authorities both at local level in Rishikesh and State level (Director General of Police) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The purpose of this visit was to thank them for their efforts and to ask that a full search of the surrounding area be carried out. A search of the area was carried out. The Consular official also met with the person's family and friends who had travelled from Ireland to assist in the search.

The Ambassador of Ireland to India also met with the person's father in New Delhi.

The Embassy remains in close contact with the family on this case.