Chilean refugees settle here after military coup
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Amnesty International appealed to Ireland and other countries to offer refuge.
Garret FitzGerald, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, informed the Dáil on February 20, 1974, that a number of Chilean refugees would be admitted to Ireland.
A list of 13 families, consisting of 31 people, and 10 single adults was drawn up by Bishop Fernando Ariztia and Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez, who had formed a Peace Committee in September 1973.
The committee was one of the most effective movements for human rights in Chile. Contact with Dublin was made through Fr Brendan Forde, an Irish Franciscan in Santiago.
During 1974 and 1975, a total of 99 Chilean refugees arrived in Ireland. About half of them settled in the Shannon area, while most of the second and third groups went to Galway, where the committee had hired the Continental Hotel in Salthill for a time.
A committee was set up in Ireland to help the refugees and liaise with the contacts in Santiago.
Bairbre Ní Giollarnáth of the Committee for Chilean Refugees wrote to Dr FitzGerald on October 7, 1974: “There is no need to tell you, Minister, that conditions in Chile have changed little.
“Our committee heard directly on Friday last that in one parish during the past 10 days, a whole football team (baby soccer, six players) had been taken from their homes. Nobody knows where they are.”
The Irish Government had refused to recognise the Pinochet regime initially, but the Department of Foreign Affairs adopted a rather timid approach.
The Irish embassy in The Hague was in a quandary in 1975 over whether it should invite the Chilean diplomats to the annual St Patrick’s Day reception given by the embassy.
Iveagh House replied on February 24, 1975: “A decision to exclude the Chilean Ambassador from the guest list would be an extreme measure which would be interpreted as a sign of extreme disapproval of the Chilean government by Ireland.”
“Provided it is clearly understood that the presence of the Chilean Ambassador at an official Irish reception in no way implies recognition by the Irish Government of the Chilean regime, we would have no political objections.”
