Tánaiste calls for immediate release of oil-workers kidnapped in Algeria

DUBLIN, Ireland, January 16, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Eamon Gilmore, T.D., has called for the immediate release of an Irish citizen who is reported to have been amongst a group of oil-workers kidnapped in Algeria this morning.

The Consular Assistance unit in the Department is providing consular assistance to the family and are in close contact with its international partners and a wide range of other contacts in order to establish the facts of the situation. At this stage, the identity and motives of the kidnappers is unknown.

“The Government stands ready to use all the resources available to us to ensure that our citizen is released as soon as possible,” the Tánaiste said today, adding that “I would ask that the family be allowed privacy at this difficult time.”