Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I am delighted to have the opportunity of speaking on the Adjournment and I am equally pleased that the Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs, Deputy Roche, is present.

The assassination of the Hamas leader, Mahmoud al Mabhouh, on 20 January in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has had serious repercussions in Ireland and worldwide. Initially, it was thought that the assassination squad consisted of five people using fake passports. Now it transpires that there were at least 26 involved. There were at least six fake Irish passports and a further 20 fake passports of British, German, French and now Australian citizens.

The recent disclosure that the passport identities of Australian citizens were stolen has resulted in the most forceful response to date. The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs immediately summoned the Israeli ambassador and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, went on the national and international media and announced that if the use or forgery of Australian passports was demonstrated to have been sponsored or condoned by Israeli officials or agencies, then Israel would be deemed to be an unfriendly country. That was putting it very forthrightly.

Neither Ireland nor the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting during the week has been so forthright. The Israeli ambassador to Ireland and the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister have both refused to deny or confirm that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, was involved. The statement emanating from the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers during the week made no mention at all of the prime suspect, Israel. The statement by Catherine Ashton, the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs, condemning the killing as not "conducive" to peace and stability in the Middle East was simply ridiculous. No further action has been taken by Ireland or the EU, and to my mind that is not good enough.

I believe that there should be a full scale debate in the Dáil next week on the serious threat to the integrity of the Irish passport and the welfare of Irish citizens travelling abroad to give Deputies from all sides of the House an opportunity to express their views in the matter. Ireland should send a special Garda investigation team to Dubai to investigate at first hand the role of the fake Irish passports in the assassination there. Ireland did that when on 5 or 6 January we had the exercise in explosives which failed. The Slovakian authorities were guilty of some very poor efforts in testing explosives, which eventually ended up in the Irish jurisdiction. We spent a special investigation team to look into the matter and are awaiting its report. the same should be done as regards the assassination in Dubai. We should send a special Garda investigation team there too.

The authorities in the United Arab Emirates have stated that they are 99% certain that Israel and Mossad were behind the assassination. The Taoiseach should inform the Israeli ambassador that without a categorical denial of involvement Ireland can no longer consider Israel to be a friendly country, with all the implications that would have for travel, trade and diplomatic relations. Finally, in the long term we should look into the whole area of passports, particularly in view of the widespread forgery of passports internationally. An international treaty should be drawn up under the auspices of the United Nations which would provide for the proper use and protection of passports. Ireland should sponsor that treaty, in the event.

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which as he is said, is most serious. The Government and the Irish people value our passport and the sovereignty it represents.

The first indication the Government received of the use of false Irish passports by the killers of Mr. al Mabhouh was on 4 February, when local press reports stated that several suspects were believed to have entered Dubai on Irish passports. The Irish ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Ciarán Madden, immediately contacted the UAE Foreign Ministry to seek clarification, and has been in virtual daily contact with it ever since.

On 15 February, the Dubai chief of police gave a news conference during which he gave details of three fake Irish passports. The initial press reports contained inaccurate passport numbers and it was only following clarification by the Dubai authorities - who are to be congratulated on their thoroughness - that we were in a position to identify the passport numbers used. The Department of Foreign Affairs, in co-operation with the Garda, immediately commenced an investigation, which included making contact with the Irish citizens whose passport numbers had been stolen.

The Dubai police have so far shared with us the details of six fraudulent Irish passports which it claims were used by persons involved in the killing and we have passed these on to the Garda. The Garda is liaising with the police forces of the other affected countries, and Interpol. Ambassador Madden continues to maintain almost daily contact with the UAE Foreign Ministry and the Dubai police, in addition to liaising with other embassies in the UAE.

The Government does not have categorical proof of who was responsible for the counterfeit, but like the Deputy and everybody else, we have our suspicions. However, the killing of Mr. al Mabhouh is believed by many, including the Dubai police chief, as likely to have been the responsibility of the Israeli state security agency, Mossad. Israel has not denied that Mossad was responsible but has stated that there is no hard proof that it was.

On Monday 22 February the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin met with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, in Brussels, conveyed to him directly the Government's concerns and said that we were treating the misuse of Irish passports very seriously. He said that we hoped Israel would co-operate fully with the investigations under way and provide any information available. He also asked him for assurances that the Israeli authorities were not involved. Mr. Lieberman said that he had no information on the matter. While in Brussels, the Minister and I attended a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, after which Ministers issued a statement strongly condemning the fraudulent use of EU passports.

In addition, our ambassador to Israel has met with the Europe Director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and registered Ireland's serious concern about the security and integrity of Irish passports and the possibility of their being used by anyone other than the lawful holder. The Israeli ambassador to Ireland was called to Iveagh House last week where senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs stressed the seriousness with which the Government viewed the matter. The ambassador undertook to relay the messages he had received to his authorities.

The Israeli Embassy have been provided with copies of all six forged Irish passports used by the alleged assassins and requested to seek the assistance of the Israeli authorities in identifying the persons whose photographs appear on the passports. The Minister has also discussed the situation with British Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Miliband, and we have agreed to co-operate closely and share information. Our embassies in Berlin, Paris and London remain in close contact with the Foreign Ministries of those countries. We are also liaising very closely with the Australians in view of the announcement yesterday that fake Australian passports were used.

On Friday last, the Minister, Deputy Martin, spoke to the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister, Sheikh Zayed, and assured him of Ireland's co-operation. Ambassador Madden has kept in continuous contact with the UAE authorities.

I wish to state clearly that the Irish passports used by the alleged assassins were fake. They were not produced by our Passport Office. Importantly, the assassins used real passport numbers belonging to innocent Irish people, something which could have had serious consequences for those people had they been travelling abroad at the time. Other than the passport numbers and the expiry dates, everything else about these passports was fake. Those involved used forged identities, signatures and photographs.

In recent years, there has been a very significant investment to enhance the security features of the Irish passport. It is significant that in all six cases the fake passports were based on the old pre-2005 Irish passport. Since then, Irish passports have been made of polycarbonate and, since 2006, they have included a biometric chip.

Our primary focus has been to guarantee the security of the Irish citizens affected. We have now spoken to all citizens who hold or held passports with the numbers provided by the Dubai authorities. We have provided those Irish citizens with new passports. Given that it was solely the number of their passports involved rather than their identities, I am satisfied that having received new passports they will be no longer in danger. They were definitely put in danger by the people who used the fake passports in this case.

On behalf of the innocent individuals and all Irish passport holders, my Department is determined to uncover the truth of the situation. It is unacceptable that these totally innocent citizens could have been placed in danger by the irresponsible actions of others, especially the irresponsible actions of a State. The use of Irish passports is not the action one would expect from a nation that enjoys friendly relations with this country.

I maintain that Ireland - I speak not only for the Government because I am confident I speak for all parties in the House - deplores the extra-judicial murder of Mahmoud al Mabhouh. His murder was wrong in law and it was silly and stupid politically. Regardless of what he is alleged to have done, his killing will not bring peace to the Middle East but serve to create yet another martyr whose death, regrettably, will inspire others to follow the path of senseless violence. Regardless of those who were responsible, Ireland takes the gravest exception to the forgery and misuse of its passports. The people take an understandable pride in our passport, which is widely respected worldwide. It is unacceptable that the Irish passport has been denigrated and besmirched by being falsely deployed as camouflage for a team of assassins. Whoever is responsible for having sullied Ireland's reputation in this way has not acted as we might expect our friends to act.