Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Eanna Ó Cochláin is a 55 year old Corkman. He is a nurse and is married to a Filipino woman and was arrested at an airport in the Philippines in 2013. It was claimed that the reason for his arrest was the discovery of a small quantity of marijuana in a packet of cigarettes, which he credibly claims was planted on him. He was imprisoned and asked for money to prevent him from being sentenced. On the advice of the Irish consul, I understand he refused to pay. He was sentenced to 12 years in a Filipino prison. That is under appeal. He is on bail but his passport has been confiscated and he cannot leave the country. His life is in danger and he is in hiding.

That is understandable because more than 3,500 alleged drug dealers and addicts have been killed in the Philippines since 1 July by police operations and by ardent vigilante militias. The authoritarian populist president, Roderigo Duterte, elected on 1 July has stood over this campaign. Last week he said, "Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them." Mr. Ó Cochláin's life is in real danger and his family feels there has not been enough done by the Irish State and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to save and protect him. What steps are planned and will be taken?

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