Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I am grateful to my friend and colleague, Deputy Higgins, for seeking this Adjournment debate and affording me a brief opportunity to lend my support to the appeal that he has made before Parliament - I hope it will be echoed on the other side of the world - for the immediate release of Fr. Michael Sinnott, an elderly son of my home town of Wexford and the parish of Clonard which he visited not long ago to recuperate following heart bypass surgery. During his visit he said mass in Clonard church. He comes from a distinguished Wexford family that has given great public service to the community. His abduction has caused considerable distress to his family in Wexford, his religious brothers, the wider community in Wexford and the entire nation. I am heartened to hear of the immediate intervention to be made by our ambassador to Singapore who has flown to the Philippines. I also know of the active involvement of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

It is a source of great distress that two Irish citizens have been abducted in two parts of the world - the Sudan and the Philippines.

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