SF politician refused entry into Australia

SF politician refused entry into Australia

26 March 2014

SINN Fein councillor Eamonn Mac Con Midhe was refused entry to Australia last week due to concerns over his Republican past.

The Downpatrick councillor had flown to Melbourne with his wife for a family event and believed his paperwork was in order prior to his arrival.

However, immigration officials refused him entry due a terrorist conviction dating back to the 1970s.

In 1976, when he was 17 years-old, Mr. Mac Con Midhe was jailed for firearms possession after he was arrested during an incident in which shots were fired at a police car in the grounds of Downe Hospital in Downpatrick.

During his imprisonment in Long Kesh, he took part in the blanket protest as part of a campaign to secure political prisoner status for Republicans.

He became fluent in Irish at that time and since his release in the mid-1980s he has promoted the wider use of Irish in the district including working towards the launch of Downpatrick’s first Irish-speaking nursery and primary school.

He was elected to Down Council in 2001.

Mr. MacConMidhe yesterday declined to comment about what happened on his arrival in Australia but said he was hopeful negotiations with staff from the Australian embassy about a new visa would be successful.

According to the embassy’s website, anyone with a “substantial criminal record”, which is considered to be imprisonment of more than one year, may not be granted a holiday visa.

It is understood that Mr. Mac Con Midhe believed this condition had been waived prior to his departure from Belfast airport.