Minister for Foreign Affairs on Irish people stranded in the Gulf

0:00thousands of Irish people who are in the Middle East for work or travel face an uncertain future now. In a moment, we'll get the latest advice from the Minister for Foreign Affairs. But first, let's get a view from Abu Dhabi. Irishman Dara Egan is a former tipperary hurler from Pocan. He's teaching in Abu Dhabi and he has been telling our reporter, Kean McCormick, about his experience over the past 48 hours. When this kicked off on Saturday, we were actually down into Dubai sevens rugby stadium playing a hurling tournament where there was teams from Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Alain. We were slightly oblivious to what was going on because we were, you know, geographically, we're probably 40 minutes from Dubai and maybe an hour from Abu Dhabi. So we were in our own little bubble enjoying all the Irishness of a hurling tournament down there. So it was just news was filtering through that things were starting to happen. So everybody was safe. Some of our Qatar counterparts, all right, they obviously were supposed to

1:03fly back home for work on Sunday at 7pm Saturday, then so their flights were cancelled. So that's when the news started filtering through. And from there then, once the tournament finished, we're on maybe half seven in the evening. We started moving back towards Abu Dhabi. And it seemed to be just businesses usual. We were getting, you know, reports just to, you know, stay in a safe place, etc. But we didn't hear anything on Saturday night, Sunday morning, but 1am or 8 was the first kind of bang or Todd, you know, you're in your apartment and you just hear that bang or Todd, where besides the rain intercepted. So that was Saturday evening. And to be honest, since then, half of hurts, haven't heard much since then, I went over to a few friends of mine from Carc yesterday, who live five or 10 minutes away from me here and just linking in with them. And yeah, lots of the lots of Irish WhatsApp groups and,

2:04you know, the local G A club, Abu Dhabi in Afina have put out lots of messages just keeping everybody informed. And anytime there's an update from the Irish embassy, it goes through the WhatsApp groups. So there's a good connection between everyone here and everyone seems to be safe and well, thank God. That was Dara Egan from temporary speaking to our reporter, Kean McCormack. Well, we're joined now from our Eroctus studio by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defense, Helen McIntee. And Minister, good afternoon. Thanks for joining us today. Hello, Minister, can you hear us there? I can, yes. That's great. We have you now. Thank you very much. Minister, there are two categories of Irish people in the Middle East. The first is the people, I suppose, who live and work there. And the second are the people who are either transiting through an airport in the Middle East or who are there on holidays. How many Irish people are currently in that second category who are in the Middle East and who are now trying to get home? Well, look, if you take this as a whole, I suppose we tend to focus on the UAE

3:06where we have the largest number of our citizens living, but also transiting through. But if you look at the wider Gulf region, what we're estimating is potentially up to 22,000 people and probably in and around 2,000 of those that are transiting that are on holidays that are coming from Australia, Asia, or we're traveling to those regions as well. So you have quite a high number and for a country of our size, we do tend to have quite a large number of people at any given time in that region. But you know, this is why we are asking people to register to make sure that we have that complete picture as to how many people are there. We're also engaging directly with the airlines who have been in the last 48 hours able to tell us who was due in on flights, where were people transiting from, who was due to get on a flight then and to leave the region. So that's helping us with our figures and our numbers overall as well. Okay. And for those people who don't have a base in those countries who are either stuck at the airport or who are stuck in hotels, is there any plan to get those people home to evacuate those people?

4:08Well, look, I know that the airlines are working closely with people and are putting many people up. And my understanding is that the Qataris and the UAE government and officials have said that they will support people who are there and who are stranded. So we're working closely with them to make sure that people are not left without that type of support. Okay, but is the on the airlines or is the government actually, is the government going to intervene itself maybe to send planes to those countries to bring people home? So at the moment, we have limited airspace to be able to do that. So it is only today the airport and Abu Dhabi opened up briefly for a small number of flights. Again, this is a fast evolving situation. So if it arises that we can charge a flight, we are ready to go and we will do that and we have done that in previous instances. But the quickest way for people to get out is if airspace opens that the airlines and there are three of them that fly directly to Ireland and of course many to other parts in Europe that we have Irish citizens on those flights. The flights that took off today, they were focused

5:10on people who are in transit. So to your point, not those who are residents, who have a base, who have somewhere to stay, these were people in transit. But it's important for people to know that unless you're contacted by your airlines, I would ask people not to travel to airports because they are only taking people on those flights that they've contacted directly. But of course, today what our intention and focus is, is this going to happen again tomorrow? Will there be ability for more airspace to open up? I know people are asking the question, well if the Abu Dhabi airport is open, why is the Dubai airport not open? Why are others not open? The feedback is in particular for the Dubai airport because of its location, because of its proximity to some of the other military bases where there may be a greater potential for a strike or for something to happen. The airport has said they're not opening today. But again, we will update people and it's really welcome to hear Dara saying, you know, we know the connection and the communities that we have in the UAE. Yes, and they're sharing information. Yes indeed. That's really welcome. And the conflict has widened now as we know to Lebanon and there are 340 Irish soldiers in

6:12southern Lebanon. Are they safe? They are safe and just to reassure people have been speaking to the chief of staff this morning. All of our troops are safe. They are accounted for. There is obviously huge disruption in the region on what they have been directed to do by Unifilm by the HQ is to go to ground essentially to go in and to stay safe. Are they involved in Kurdistan, Minister? Are they in groundhog at the moment? They are in groundhog at the moments essentially. They're not moving. And when I ask the question, if this is something that would happen soon, I suppose you have to take into account if moving them actually creates a greater risk for them. There's huge disruption more generally. We're starting to see huge movement of citizens in Lebanon moving towards the north of the region. There are a number of cities been evacuated but for now the direction to our battalion and to others as well. You have Polish and you have French as well as Italian is to stay where they are and to go to groundhog. This was all triggered by a US attack on Iran, a sovereign nation. It was an attack which was done without the approval of either the US Congress or by the UN. And it was not done in retaliation

7:16for any other attack by Iran on the US. Does the Irish government condemn that attack? Look what we have said and I have said very clearly is that the approach that has been taken here is extremely concerning. The approach that has been taken as you say without permission be it through the normal channels within the US is extremely concerning. Do you condemn this minister? Do you say that it was wrong that it shouldn't have happened? Well to be honest, I'm trying to balance things here in terms of what is actually happening there and how do we respond to it? So we have for weeks now and I have met many of these people here in Ireland. We have for weeks witnessed the Iranian regime slaughtering its own citizens, imprisoning them and cutting off all communications. And you have condemned that. But what about the attack by the US and Israel on Iran then? Was that illegal under international law? Well look the approach that's been taken and the way in which they've done us we've said and I've said is extremely concerning and it is concerning because of what's happened now and just

8:18having been to the region I know that this is the thing that people feared the most. Isn't that a very weak statement though minister to say that something is concerning? Do you not have anything stronger to say? I mean, do you not? Can you not say that this attack was wrong and shouldn't have happened because innocent people have been killed across the weekend in these attacks? Well what we know is that there are tens of thousands of innocent civilians that have been killed over the last number of weeks in Iran. So this is about trying to pull back and de-escalate everything that is happening here but at the same time you have a brutal regime that has not been stopped for decades. So I absolutely appreciate where you are coming from and I hope that I'm being clear and saying that none of this violence is welcome. None of this escalation is welcome. But we have a situation where there are people quite literally being slaughtered and nobody has been able to do anything about it. Why are you concerned now is that the region will escalate and there will be more people cause of it? Why are you so reluctant to criticize the United States for its actions and so readily willing to criticize Iran? I'm not sure we can equate Iran with the US

9:23with all respect. I think what has been happening in Iran for decades has been condemned for the very reason that they have quite literally prevented people from living their lives and have slaughtered them in the thousands in recent weeks. I am not saying that what has happened and the approach that has been taken is okay but I'm saying we now need to focus on how do we pull this back? How do we prevent further escalation and how do we make sure that our Irish citizens first and foremost in the region are protected and safe as well? But the t-shirt will go to Washington DC in two weeks time and he'll meet Donald Trump, a leader who's launched attacks now in Venezuela, in Somalia, in Syria, in Iraq, in Nigeria, in Yemen. He's attacked several ships in the Caribbean. He has helped fund Israel's war in Gaza and has now attacked Iran this weekend. Will there be any criticism of Donald Trump or the United States when the t-shirt visits him later this month? Well, I mean, having just spoken to the t-shirt this morning, I have no doubt that all of these issues will be raised and will be discussed. That's a matter for the t-shirt, but the t-shirt goes to the

10:28White House on St. Patrick's Day every year and not just to say hello, not just to talk about our economy and our strong ties and links, but also to discuss matters of importance to us. And from an Irish perspective, we will never be shy in saying that the approach to any of these types of conflict is to try and respond true peaceful means. That will always be our focus on our approach and that has to be the priority here. So in my discussion with European colleagues yesterday, we met for over two hours yesterday afternoon. First and foremost, how do we coordinate and make sure our citizens are safe, but secondly, how do we use all of our channels, including with the U.S. to try and pull this back and to prevent a further escalation? All right, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Helen Mackenzie, thank you very much for speaking with us on the news at 1.