Top diplomat tells of death threats
The county's top diplomat received death threats while travelling in Northern Ireland, he said today.
Secretary General of the Foreign Affairs Department Dermot Gallagher told a Dáil parliamentary committee in Dublin that he could not travel on public transport or stay in hotels in Ulster when his life was threatened.
Mr Gallagher, who became head of the Department in 2001 and is due to quit the post soon, said: "The only time I used chauffeur services, and I was forced to, was when I was travelling extensively to Northern Ireland and there was a threat on my life.
"I couldn't travel by train. I couldn't drive myself. I wasn't allowed to stay in a hotel in Northern Ireland."
Mr Gallagher was discussing public spending in his Department in 2004 with the Public Accounts Committee when he made his comments.
He didn't specify to the Committee when or from what source the death threats came.
He had earlier described to TDs and Senators how his officials had been very busy with the Northern Ireland peace process in 2004.
The affable diplomat also told how he shuns the perks of his job and prefers to travel by bus or drive himself to official functions.
He added that he has always encouraged his officials and staff to have courtesy and respect for everybody who avails of the department's services, at home and abroad.
"Bureaucracy has to have a human face and if I have brought anything to the Department of Foreign Affairs, I have tried to bring that," he told the Committee, sitting in Leinster House.
