Bigley gets Irish passport!

eirebhoy

IRISH PASSPORT FOR BIGLEY

British hostage Ken Bigley has been granted an Irish passport.

Reports over the weekend suggested Mr Bigley may only have been spared by his captors so far because they thought he may be Irish.


Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said: "Mr. Kenneth Bigley's family has asked for an Irish passport to be issued in order to help convince his kidnappers of his Irish citizenship.

"I am happy to agree to this request and I ... very much hope that it will contribute to the efforts to secure his release."

Mr Bigley qualifies through his mother, who was born in Ireland.

A Muslim cleric claimed to have met Mr Bigley and his kidnappers at the weekend.

He said he had been told that Mr Bigley's Irish heritage was the only reason he had not been beheaded yet.

Two American colleagues of the Merseyside-born engineer were murdered soon after their abduction almost three weeks ago.

RuggieBear

well that's one way to beat the queues.....


i know i'm going to hell!!!!

Hagar

Where did they get the head-shot photo for the passport?

I can see the red dots coming..... :eek:

flogen

Well, if it helps then fair enough.

I wonder if it will tbh, reports are he's been handed to a new group looking for money, they may claim to have no beef with the Irish, but they'd still like their money

flogen

Captain Trips

flogen wrote:

Well, if it helps then fair enough.

I wonder if it will tbh, reports are he's been handed to a new group looking for money, they may claim to have no beef with the Irish, but they'd still like their money

flogen

Tonight on News at 9: millions of africans flock to Iraq in the hope of getting an Irish passport.......

Fionn

lets hope when he's released that it's machine readable etc. if he ever wants to visit the USA

mike65

Yippeee he's safe!!!!!!! They'll be dancing at the crossroads now we've snagged another plastic paddy! etc :rolleyes: Why does anyone think having an additional passport will help? He's still British too.

Mike.

Fionn

which prompts another thought!! are we fingerprinting all the yanks coming into the country now that they're doing that to us?

Fionn

don't you think it's much better to say you are Irish than british?

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

mike65

Yeah, I can see that "sure all the world loves a paddy" angle but his kidnappers are'nt goldfish. They will remember he is a UK subject born and bred. If they suddenly changed tack that would suggest they are cast in the mould of Father Dougal!

Mike.

simu

They must not have heard of the refuelings at Shannon yet...

RuggieBear

simu wrote:

They must not have heard of the refuelings at Shannon yet...

SHHHHHHHHHHH...................

bonkey

mike65 wrote:

Why does anyone think having an additional passport will help?

On the assumption you read the article...are you saying that whoever claimed his Irish heritage had thusfar saved his life was a liar, or that someone along the line made it up?

If such a statement is baseless, then sure....it would seem pointless from the point of view of helping Bigley (although it does make our govt. look good on the international scene). On the other hand....if there is truth to it, then actual Irish citizenship may work a one-off and save his life.

jc

pete

simu wrote:

They must not have heard of the refuelings at Shannon yet...

if ever there was a chickens coming home to roost moment waiting to happen, this is it...

RuggieBear

bonkey wrote:

On the other hand....if there is truth to it, then actual Irish citizenship may work a one-off and save his life.

I know it's not the same at all but my irish passport has helped me out in loads of dodgy situations espeically in Australia where pommie bashing is an encouraged activity (stupid bastards can't tell the difference in our accents :rolleyes: )

mike65

On the assumption you read the article...

Whoops I did'nt read the piece :embarrased:

Did Bigley not have a UK pasport on him (maybe not, certainly does'nt have an Irish one)?, did Bigley think quick and say "actually I'm Irish"? That makes no sense of course. In the videos Bigley only mentions Blair he does'nt say "help me I'm Irish, Bertie do your best" I doubt he knows Aherns first name. Nah the idea his kidnappers think he's Irish is crapola.

Just did a google and al-Jazeera says Ireland was Neutral while the Gruniad reckons we were against the war.

Mike.

Stark

Hostage gets Irish passport.

All the black women will be getting ideas :rolleyes: (I can really see the red dots coming for this one ).

ionapaul

Stark wrote:

Hostage gets Irish passport.

All the black women will be getting ideas :rolleyes: (I can really see the red dots coming for this one ).

We need arcadegame2004 to really take advantage of the above 'jokey' posts...course, somehow Chechyna would have to introduced to the mix, too...

FatherTed

It's funny how some kids born in Ireland cannot get a passport while the government bends over backwards to get Bigley one. Plus, how well does he know Amhrán na bhFiann? Still, if it gets him freed, it might have been worth it.

aidan_walsh

I'm still finding it a little odd that regardless of the fact that the hostage takers demands weren't met, they have changed either their demands, or handed him over to another group who are looking for money...

None of this is consistent with whats been happening up until now afaik...

Dar

FatherTed wrote:

Still, if it gets him freed, it might have been worth it.

might? Come off it - nobody in Ireland wants the poor guy to be executed (I would hope). Sure it's mostly a symbolic gesture but if it adds the even the smallest hope for him it's definitely worth it.

Redleslie2

doodle_sketch wrote:

I'm still finding it a little odd that regardless of the fact that the hostage takers demands weren't met, they have changed either their demands, or handed him over to another group who are looking for money....

Maybe that scouser accent is driving them up the wall.

chewy

while an admirer of higgens and his stance to the war i find it strange that he goes on tv the last couple of weeks going on about how ireland is neutral and not part of the coaltion while he stood on platforms and ask question in the dail implying the opposite?

i know he trying to save this guy life but it makes everything he said and going to say inconsistent?

Hmmm... I wonder if we can hand out Irish Passports to any detainees that the US have and haven't charged?

What makes an Irish passport so wonderful? We don't have much political clout, and these Iraqi's are hardly afraid of our awesome army...

Personally, I think its a disgrace. He's not Irish. /Shrugs. Or is he going to come over here if he's freed, and swear allegience to the state in one of our courts? I don't think so.

RainyDay

Did Ken know a Garda personally to get him to sign the form?

SCULLY

Deleted User wrote:

Hmmm... I wonder if we can hand out Irish Passports to any detainees that the US have and haven't charged?

What makes an Irish passport so wonderful? We don't have much political clout, and these Iraqi's are hardly afraid of our awesome army...

Personally, I think its a disgrace. He's not Irish. /Shrugs. Or is he going to come over here if he's freed, and swear allegience to the state in one of our courts? I don't think so.

Under the Irish constitution he is regarded as an Irish citizen (rightly or wrongly) - I don't know if the current regulations require a swearing of allegience.

Whether it will make a jot of difference is up for debate.

Is Ireland perceived by his captors and their ilk as a 'neutral and honest broker' (buzz words flying around at the moment) or just part of the western world which has helped in the invasion of Iraq (Shannon etc yada yada) - only time will tell.

The current situation is , too say the least , bizarre.

seamus

FatherTed wrote:

It's funny how some kids born in Ireland cannot get a passport while the government bends over backwards to get Bigley one.

Currently there is no child born in Ireland that is not entitled to an Irish passport.

Hmmm... I wonder if we can hand out Irish Passports to any detainees that the US have and haven't charged?

What makes an Irish passport so wonderful? We don't have much political clout, and these Iraqi's are hardly afraid of our awesome army...

The Irish Army is very respected around the world as a peacekeeping force, even by Islamic militants.
It's not so much fear as respect that the Irish have. You'll always find the Irish more welcome in foreign places than British or Americans, particularly former British colonies. We're still respected as the small country of rebels who toppled the British Empire and gained independence through force. A romantic notion sure, but it comes in very handy.
Somehow I don't think giving passports to Guantanamo detainees would make a difference. It's a different situation. The Americans are holding those they suspect to be terrorists. The militants are holding those they suspect to be part of the coalition countries, and by that, people who they regard as part of the "evil empire".

Personally, I think its a disgrace. He's not Irish.

He is Irish. His mother is Irish, so by inheritance, he is too.

Superman

I'm sorry I can't stand the media and the way it is makng such a big deal about this eejit, At the end of the day all he is an oppurtunist (like any other crook) who went to a war zone to make excessive amounts of money for risking his life. He knew the risks and the dangers but still went, and shock! Horror! he was taken hostage.I think he got what was coming too him, ok its **** for anyone to die like that but we shouldn't really be that suprised.
Since his capture at least 250 civilians have being killed in Palestine and Iraq but we don't ever hear about that, let alone get an interview with the families. I think this whole Ken Bigley thing really highlights the problem with the media nowadays.
As for him being Irish I think its a sham, Ok he is entitled to a passport but he should have to apply like any normal person. I can't a refugee from some
african country getting a passport as quick. He is about as irish as a union jack.

I think the quicker they let him out or top him the better, either way I couldn't give 2 fu<ks.

Stark

Uhm. Lots of people go into jobs "knowing the risk". It doesn't mean we should be apathetic to their plight when something goes wrong. By your reasoning, if you were getting paid to operate heavy machinery and you got a limb trapped or something, then noone should come and help you because "you knew the risks".

pickarooney

Now the important question. Can he play centre-half?