Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 114: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 17 of 29 March 2012, the steps he has taken to assist with tracing the whereabouts of a person who went missing in the Netherlands in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24990/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The person referred to by the Deputy first came to the attention of my Department on 15 November 2008 when one of his sisters contacted our Embassy in The Hague seeking assistance in locating him. She advised that he had not been in touch with his family since 23 October which was unusual for him. Officials from my Department have remained in contact with his family since then and provided all possible consular assistance through our Embassy and the Consular Assistance section in Dublin. On 2 December 2008 an Embassy Official arranged and attended a meeting between two of his sisters and a Dutch Police Officer who had been assigned to the case. The Officer assured the sisters that everything possible was being done to locate their brother. He agreed to put a photo of their brother on the Dutch Police Intranet so that it would be available to police throughout the Netherlands. He also gave his contact details to the family.

I am informed that our Embassy contacted a Dutch television programme which features missing person's cases to ensure that this case was featured. Our Embassy has also provided the family with information and advice on placing advertisements in the Dutch media. In addition, our Embassy has also assisted the family by contacting the Irish citizen's bank in the Netherlands and his mobile phone company there. However, under Dutch law, information on private individuals (including bank activity and mobile phone usage), cannot be released, even to an Embassy or a member of the individual's family, without the individual's explicit consent.

The strictness of Dutch privacy laws and the limitations of my Department's role in missing person's cases were explained to the family during a meeting with them by my predecessor as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin, T.D., on 4 March 2009.

On 14 March 2012, the family called to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ireland and handed in a letter expressing their dissatisfaction with the handling of the case by the Dutch police. The Dutch Public Prosecutor subsequently decided to re-examine the investigation into the disappearance.

On 7 May 2012 officials from our Embassy in The Hague met with the Dutch police officers responsible for the case to discuss the current status of their investigation. The Dutch police officers confirmed that they are following up on a number of items pertaining to the disappearance. Our Embassy will remain in contact with the police and keep the individual's family informed.

The family has expressed a wish to meet with the police officers and our Embassy has offered to facilitate this at its offices. Arrangements are being made to find a mutually suitable date for such a meeting.

While my Department cannot interfere in the legal process of another state, we will continue to provide all possible consular assistance to the family. I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal sympathy to the family and to assure them of my full appreciation of the distress the disappearance of their loved on has caused.