Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the attitude of the Lebanese authorities, I raised the matter with the relevant Minister in Lebanon, namely, the Minister for Defence who is also the Deputy Prime Minister. I put it to him that there was a possibility that the individual concerned may be denaturalised by the US authorities which must go to court to do so. If he were denaturalised, he would no longer retain his US citizenship and be deported. We presume he would be deported to Lebanon, of which he was originally a citizen. I asked the Minister for Defence if in those circumstances the Lebanese authorities would be prepared to prosecute him in respect of the incident involving Privates Barrett and Smallhorne but he could not provide a categoric assurance, as it would be a matter for the prosecuting authorities in Lebanon to decide. However, he assured me he would be personally interested in seeing justice done in this case and that either he or his successor would liaise with the Government and be open to any suggestions we would make. The Lebanese Government is being very co-operative.

With regard to the United States, my understanding is that the type of case that can be taken by the authorities with such a scenario would be to denaturalise the individual in question. I am not absolutely sure about the grounds for denaturalisation, but from conversations we have had with the American authorities, I believe they will proceed on the grounds that the person was not exactly truthful in his initial application. The FBI is pursuing the matter currently. We have been in touch with the American authorities on a number of occasions about this and I understand the ongoing process may take some time.

Although I recognise the right of everybody to raise the issue and it is clearly a matter of concern to the families and myself, the United States authorities have more or less indicated to us that the less publicly said about it, the better. A gentleman who is free to come and go is residing in a certain part of the United States, which is a free country. If he gets wind that there is too much further down the line, he may take flight and disappear.

Proceedings are ongoing by the United States authorities, specifically the FBI, with a view to taking proceedings to denaturalise this individual. If this is successful, other processes will follow. In anticipation of this I spoke to the Lebanese authorities, which I have found to be most co-operative.

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