Labour TD pulls out of trip to Irishmen's Colombia trial

The Labour Party has pulled its representative out of a trip by a group of Oireachtas members to oversee the trial of three Irishmen in Colombia next month.

The trip, organised by the Bring Them Home campaign - a group working for the release of Mr Niall Connolly, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Jim Monaghan - was to have been made up of four TDs and two Senators from various political parties.

Their mission was to oversee the men's trial on charges of training leftist FARC guerrillas in terrorist tactics and using explosives. It is due to begin on December 2nd.

The TD's travelling were to be Labour's Mr Joe Costello, Independent Mr Finian McGrath, Mr Sean Curran of Fianna Fáil and Mr Sean Crowe of Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil Senator Mary White and Senator Paul Bradford of Fine Gael will also make the journey to South America.

However, Mr Costello, Dublin Central TD, dramatically pulled out today. He told ireland.comit was "a party decision" for him not to join the delegation.

"I was asked to join the group by the families of the three men, and I was willing to go," he said. "But we decided as a party that it was a matter that would be dealt with adequately by government monitors." The decision was not an indication of any anti-republican stance in the party, he said.

He added the Labour Party had intended to pay for him to travel from its own coffers, although the Bring Them Home campaign is paying for the other five members of the group to attend.

A Labour spokesman said the parliamentary party had taken the decision at a meeting this morning. He insisted there had been no falling out among members. "We had a frank debate and made our decision as a party," he said.

"The First Secretary of the Irish Embassy in Mexico will be in attendance, as will a large Irish media presence, so we felt it was unnecessary for a member of the Labour Party to attend," he said.

Mr Curran, TD for Dublin Mid-West, accepted that the visit would have political implications, but said he was going primarily out of concern for the men's rights. "The purpose of the visit is to ensure, as independent observers, that the conditions in which these men are being held are acceptable and to see that they receive a fair trial. Nothing more," he said. "The group will not determine the men's innocence or guilt."

The Oireachtas delegation will spend a week in Bogota where they hope to hold meetings with Colombian government officials as well as the judge and legal teams in the case against the three men. They will also meet officials from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the International Red Cross.

The three men were arrested by Colombian police at Bogota airport in August, 2001, en route to Ireland from the demilitarised zone, which is controlled by the FARC rebels in south east Colombia.

They were charged with travelling on false passports and instructing FARC in terrorist techniques and the use of explosives. The men, who have been linked with the IRA and Sinn Féin, insist they were there to observe the Colombian peace process.

The men are currently being held in the maximum security La Modelo prison. They had been held there in September 2001, but had to be moved to the La Picota prison on the outskirts of Bogota over fears for their safety.