Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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159. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a case of a person (details supplied); if he has seen a video clip which lasts for over two minutes and was released to the Irish media ahead of Christmas; and if he has discussed the case with his Filipino counterpart recently. [3364/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am very awareof the extremely difficult circumstances in which this individual and his family find themselves. I have personally raised my concerns about the case, and about the health and wellbeing of the individual concerned, with my Philippines counterpart, most recently at the UN in New York last September.

As the individual himself makes clear in the video clip released before Christmas, 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. The Irish Government does not and cannot interfere with a trial in another jurisdiction, just as we would not tolerate a foreign government seeking to interfere in a judicial process in Ireland.

Beyond doing what is possible to ensure that Mr Ó Cochlain has legal representation, what the Government can do, and what we have been consistently doing, is emphasising very strongly to the Philippines authorities our serious concerns for the rights and welfare of our Irish citizen, explaining and underlining the humanitarian considerations, and seeking the cooperation of the relevant executive and administrative authorities in expediting the scheduling of the appeal on those grounds.

As the individual states in the video clip, his appeal is waiting to be filed at the Supreme Court.

This is why the current priority focus of our Embassy in Singapore is on follow up to the request to seek to have the appeal process expedited on humanitarian grounds. This request was reiterated at a meeting earlier this month with senior Philippines Foreign Ministry officials.

Let me assure you that my Department continues to prioritise this case and that Department officials in Dublin, our Embassy in Singapore and our Honorary Consulate in the Philippines will continue to provide all appropriate consular assistance to this individual and to his family.