Passport fraud report review under way

MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has received the report by the Irish passport service into the use of counterfeit Irish passports in the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

Mr Martin said he was “considering its findings”. He would discuss the report with Government colleagues and hoped to make a statement in two weeks. The Minister emphasised “the seriousness with which the Government regards any attempt to forge Irish passports, even more so to use such documents as a cover for criminal activity”.

He told the Dái during question time two of the eight counterfeit Irish passports were those of children.

Twenty-six people were suspected of involvement in the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel in January this year. Three fraudulent Australian passports, four French, 12 British, one German and eight Irish passports were used in the killing. The Minister said the fake Irish passports did not used “the stolen identities of actual Irish citizens” but their passport numbers were used in six cases. The remaining two passports were never issued by the Irish passport service.

Mr Martin said he would share the content of the passport service’s report with the Opposition spokespersons, apart from some detail which could compromise passport security.

He said the Irish passport had an international reputation as being of the “highest quality” and the State had invested “very heavily in extra security features so that our citizens can travel in safety . . . The Government is determined to maintain the good name of Irish passports.”

Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins asked if the report clearly identified who used Irish passports. “If an individual or country is identified as being behind this, what sanctions, what steps does the Minister and his Government propose to take?”

Mr Martin said the British government concluded there were “compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of British passports”.

Labour foreign affairs spokesman Michael D Higgins said the British authorities had asked an official at the Israeli embassy in London, a liaison officer with MI6, to leave the country. He said it was crucial intelligence agencies “not be allowed to cross-over in such a way” that would endanger the development of relations between the EU and the rest of the world.

He also asked: “Isn’t it the case that what you’ve been told by the Israeli ambassador is that you can’t prove anything and effectively . . . he’s simply going to stonewall on the basis he knows nothing and won’t be saying anything until things are proved?” Mr Martin replied: “I think the presentation of the deputy is a fair one.”