IRAQ: Despite the family's pleas for help to save Mr Ken Bigley, official circles in Dublin believed yesterday there was little the Government could do to help because he holds a British passport, writes Arthur Beesley, Political Reporter
"We've looked into the matter to see if there was any way we could intervene constructively, but there isn't," the Taoiseach's official spokeswoman said.
Mr Paul Bigley told RTÉ's News at One programme yesterday his mother, Elizabeth, was from Ticknock in Co Dublin. He urged the Government and Mr Ahern to do "anything that they think appropriate" to help secure the release of his brother.
"I've always thought that the Irish solve problems in their own peculiar little manner."
He hoped his brother's entitlement to an Irish passport might encourage his captors to change their stance and he believed Mr Ahern could help.
"He's had experience in these things before. Maybe he has avenues that other people don't have, to try and bring this thing to a pleasant conclusion."
A spokesman for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said his condemnation of the kidnappers had added to the international pressure on them to release Mr Bigley "immediately, unconditionally and unharmed".
Mr Cowen said on RTÉ that he had discussed the case with the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw. The situation was "dire", he said.
"The real dilemma of course for governments in this whole situation is that if hostage-taking or indeed the barbaric killing of hostages on video is to meet with success, then the prospect of a further loss of life, further hostage-taking is a very real possibility," Mr Cowen said.
After speaking yesterday to Mr Paul Bigley, the Labour TD, Mr Michael D. Higgins, was interviewed on Al Jazeera television and asked the hostage-takers to spare his brother. "I am convinced that nothing at all will be achieved by the execution of Ken Bigley, whose aged mother is an Irish citizen," he said in a statement.
"Bigley himself is somebody who has served in a number of countries in the Arab and Muslim world and always with respect for the cultural and religious sensibilities of his hosts.
"If the issue is the establishment of how many Iraqi women are held in custody, and should this matter not be capable of verification by the International Red Cross, an international group should investigate the situation immediately and if such required volunteers, then I would be willing to participate."
Mr Higgins added last night that he did not wish to stress this point and was instead seeking to emphasise the case for Mr Bigley's release. He said there was a view in international circles that Mr Bigley's best opportunity of liberation was recognition of his mother's Irish nationality.