Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of citizens who are missing abroad; and the length of time they have been missing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20877/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs, either through the Consular Assistance Section or our Missions overseas, receive a number of inquires each year in relation to Irish citizens that cannot be contacted by families or friends. It is important to recall that people go missing for a variety of reasons, including, in some cases, as a result of a deliberate decision to cease contact with family or friends. Nevertheless, losing contact with a family member or friend who is travelling or resident overseas can be, and frequently is, very distressing.

The Department will do what is possible to assist families to liaise and provide information to local police authorities overseas to help to ascertain any information on the whereabouts of any Irish citizens reported as missing. However, the operational responsibility for conducting searches overseas rests with the local police forces and my Department cannot conduct physical searches on behalf of families. The normal procedure in cases where a family in Ireland believes that a family member is missing overseas is to report it to the local police station in order that they can request the assistance of Interpol to attempt to trace the missing person.

The following is a list of Missions which were involved in cases of missing Irish citizens, the number and date of the cases. Australia 1 May 2009 Estonia 1 May 2008 France 2 May 2009 and July 2009 Hungary 1 July 2009 Netherlands 1 October 2008 Nepal 1 May 2003 Spain 3 January 2008, May 2009 and September 2009 USA 1 April 2010.