Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am very aware of the extremely difficult circumstances in which this individual and his family find themselves. We understand that the citizen remains on bail and is waiting for his appeal to be logged with the Philippines Supreme Court against his conviction and sentence in 2013. As this is an ongoing legal case, it is for the citizen’s legal representatives to advise him and to act on his behalf in matters before the courts.

My Department officials in Dublin and in Singapore have provided and continue to provide all appropriate consular support, within the limits of assistance we can offer in such legal cases. I have personally raised my concerns about the case with my Philippine counterpart on a number of occasions.

In November our Embassy in Singapore wrote to the Administrator of the Supreme Court to request that the individual’s appeal hearing be expedited on humanitarian grounds. This request was reiterated at a meeting on 11 January 2017 with senior Philippines Foreign Ministry officials.

The citizen is in regular and direct contact with Department officials both in Dublin and in Singapore, and an Embassy Singapore official visited the individual in October.

The Department in Dublin, our Embassy in Singapore and our Honorary Consulate in the Philippines will continue to provide whatever consular assistance we can to this individual and to his family.