CATHAL O'SEARCAIGH: Hanafin Stands Over Visa Help for Nepal Teen
Added on February 17, 2008
Irish Independent, Monday, 11th February, 2008
[ With enemies like this Cathal O'Searcaigh does not need friends. This is the kind of repulsive story that will discredit critics of O'Searcaigh and ensure that the REAL reason for questioning his behaviour is forgotten. ]
Education Minister Mary Hanafin last night angrily rejected suggestions of any inappropriate action in helping controversial poet Cathal O Searcaigh obtain a visa for a 19-year-old Nepalese youth.
She said she was both "appalled and shocked" by recent revelations concerning Mr O Searcaigh who has been accused of having sex with teenagers as young as 16 whom he was supporting financially.
And Ms Hanafin insisted the entry visa had been approved for a youth aged 19 -- and not 16 or 17 years of age as reported in a British Sunday newspaper.
A spokeswoman said the minister was "very upset" at the insinuation she had assisted in obtaining a visa for a minor.
"It was a very irresponsible piece of journalism," the spokeswoman said, adding the claim that the teenager was 16 or 17 was "false and untrue".
The records of the visa application for Prem Timalsina were checked on Friday by officials at the Department of Education.
They confirmed the date of birth for the applicant was 1979, making him 19 at the time.
Ms Hanafin yesterday confirmed the renowned poet had contacted her in 1998 to seek assistance with Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews in obtaining a visa for an "adult friend" visiting Ireland.
Request
A spokeswoman for the minister also confirmed that Ms Hanafin had been friends with the Donegal poet while in college.
She said the communication in 1998 was a type of "routine request for visa assistance frequently made by Dail deputies to ministers", adding this was the only representation made by Ms Hanafin on behalf of Mr O Searcaigh.
The allegations against the poet will be broadcast in the documentary film entitled 'Fairytale of Kathmandu' at the Dublin International Film Festival on February 18 and 21, and on RTE in March.
Mr O Searcaigh has vehemently denied any wrong-doing and claims he has been exploited by the film's director, Neasa Ni Chianain.