€0 to bring Michaella McCollum home!

fiachr_a

The Irish Government has campaigned to return drugs mule Michaella McCollum back to this isle.

"McCollum's Belfast-based lawyer Kevin Winters has received confirmation from the Irish government's Department of Foreign Affairs that the prison transfer request has been accepted by the Peruvian authorities."
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/drugs-mule-michaella-mccollum-return-3997278

Yet, it seems they're not paying a cent for this. It's the British Government who will have to pay out.
McCollum has an Irish passport.
"The 21-year-old from Dungannon carries an Irish passport."
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/michaella-mccollum-to-be-moved-to-north-jail-1.1889099

Is it right of our Government to demand/aid the return of Irish jailed abroad yet keep silent while another country pays for this?

Banjo String

Not sure I get your point OP.

She's being transferred to a prison in the north of the island of Ireland.

She has the right to dual citizenship, she chooses to be Irish, and I'm sure she wants to be in a prison as possibly close to her family as she can be. This presumably is (not even sure if its still open) Armagh women's prison , not far from Dungannon +/- 10 miles or so. A lot closer than any prison in the Republic.
Edit, it's actually Hydebank, just outside Belfast.
As for the Irish Govt not funding it, I can't seem to tell either way from those articles of this is in fact the case.

Regardless, if the UK want to fund the transfer of a drug mule back to a prison in the north. Let them. What's the big deal?

Red Alert

She was happy enough to be involved in illegal activity over there. What's so wrong with the country's prisons? If she really valued either her Irish or UK citizenship she would not have knowingly broken the law in a foreign country, bringing both of her citizenship-eligible countries into disrepute.

conorh91

fiachr_a wrote: »

The Irish Government has campaigned to return drugs mule Michaella McCollum back to this isle.

"McCollum's Belfast-based lawyer Kevin Winters has received confirmation from the Irish government's Department of Foreign Affairs that the prison transfer request has been accepted by the Peruvian authorities."
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/drugs-mule-michaella-mccollum-return-3997278

Yet, it seems they're not paying a cent for this. It's the British Government who will have to pay out.
McCollum has an Irish passport.
"The 21-year-old from Dungannon carries an Irish passport."
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/michaella-mccollum-to-be-moved-to-north-jail-1.1889099

Is it right of our Government to demand/aid the return of Irish jailed abroad yet keep silent while another country pays for this?

So it's not enough that we have to pay for our own prisoner population, we now have to pay for the imprisonment of Irish people being incarcerated in foreign countries?

Is that really your point

fiachr_a

conorh91 wrote: »

Is that really your point

Here's my point: Why is the Irish Government attempting to get an Irish passport holder moved from a prison in Peru to Northern Ireland yet not contributing any of the costs?

If they don't want to to pay then they shouldn't be getting involved.

jimd2

They can campaign alright, doesnt mean that they have to pay. Then again the cos of the flight is a pittance in the bigger scheme of things and there are probably other circumstances where the Irish state does pay.

Without knowing the exact details on the transaction and the fact that it isnt that significant of a cost probably means that the thread is pointless.

Timberrrrrrrr

fiachr_a wrote: »

The Irish Government has campaigned to return drugs mule Michaella McCollum back to this isle.

"McCollum's Belfast-based lawyer Kevin Winters has received confirmation from the Irish government's Department of Foreign Affairs that the prison transfer request has been accepted by the Peruvian authorities."
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/drugs-mule-michaella-mccollum-return-3997278

Yet, it seems they're not paying a cent for this. It's the British Government who will have to pay out.
McCollum has an Irish passport.
"The 21-year-old from Dungannon carries an Irish passport."
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/michaella-mccollum-to-be-moved-to-north-jail-1.1889099

Is it right of our Government to demand/aid the return of Irish jailed abroad yet keep silent while another country pays for this?

No


She should be left to rot there, you commit a crime in a country you should see out your sentence there.

fiachr_a

jimd2 wrote: »

Without knowing the exact details on the transaction and the fact that it isnt that significant of a cost probably means that the thread is pointless.

More details here: http://www.northernsound.ie/news/row-has-emerged-over-the-cost-of-the-transfer-of-michaela-mccollum-to-a-jail-in-northern-ireland/

Pat Mustard

fiachr_a wrote: »

If they don't want to to pay then they shouldn't be getting involved.

She is from Northern Ireland. I'm doubt if it would suit her or her family to send her to a prison in Ireland. Therefore, she will be repatriated to NI, which is held by the UK.

See here:

The Irish Government has been providing consular support to McCollum, an Irish citizen.

A letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "The Peruvian authorities have confirmed that they have accepted Michaella's prison transfer request and have passed this to the UK National Offenders' Management Service (NOMS) which co-ordinates prisoner transfers to the UK.

The Irish government has been providing consular support but the Irish authorities are not repatriating her to Ireland. Instead, the UK authorities are repatriating her to NI. Therefore, the UK authorities will pay.

It would be different if she was to be repatriated to Ireland. But that's not going to happen.

chopper6

What happened to the Nordie Matlock she had representing her?

_Kaiser_

As I said in the massive thread on this in AH, she should have been left to serve her time in the country where she committed the crime.

You can be sure we wouldn't still be hearing about this if it was a fella either. A drug mule is a drug mule regardless of their sex IMO.

spooky donkey

why should the irish tax payer ( not really the irish government ) pay for a transfer of a person/family who does not pay tax in the republic? Or am I missing something here?

FreudianSlippers

spooky donkey wrote: »

why should the irish tax payer ( not really the irish government ) pay for a transfer of a person/family who does not pay tax in the republic? Or am I missing something here?

Nope you aren't. She's a convicted drug smuggler and she's not our problem. We have enough of them clogging up our courts and jails without taking on the burden of another from a different jurisdiction who can't / won't do the time in the country in which she committed the crime

ardmacha

This is one of the least useful threads on Boards. A notable achievement.

fiachr_a

ardmacha wrote: »

This is one of the least useful threads on Boards. A notable achievement.

Not it's not! The Irish Government shouldn't get involved in this case full stop. This thread is about why did they get involved? What are they up to? They should either donate some money to help bring her home or keep out of this altogether.

ardmacha

fiachr_a wrote: »

Not it's not! The Irish Government shouldn't get involved in this case full stop. This thread is about why did they get involved? What are they up to? They should either donate some money to help bring her home or keep out of this altogether.

The woman holds an Irish passport, hence the consular assistance. The part of Ireland she lives in will pay for her upkeep. The thread is a complete waste of time, even by boards standards.

Icepick

What she did shouldn't even be a crime (in which case nobody would pay her to do it).

DarkyHughes

Yeah, free her.

FreudianSlippers

Being a drug mule isn't a crime suddenly?

DarkyHughes

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Being a drug mule isn't a crime suddenly?

Come on, everyone adult in the country has done a few cheeky lines of coke at some stage.

Timberrrrrrrr

DarkyHughes wrote: »

Come on, everyone adult in the country has done a few cheeky lines of coke at some stage.

I haven't :eek:

Timberrrrrrrr

Icepick wrote: »

What she did shouldn't even be a crime (in which case nobody would pay her to do it).

So people should be allowed to bring whatever they want into any country regardless?

FreudianSlippers

DarkyHughes wrote: »

Come on, everyone adult in the country has done a few cheeky lines of coke at some stage.

11kg is a hell of a lot of lines!

Pat Mustard

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

11kg is a hell of a lot of lines!

Sure anybody could have a few cheeky kgs just lying around on their desk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJUt_x0gwug