Gerard back after China crisis

“IT’S great to be back.” These words summed up the relief of a 42-year-old language school director who returned home to Kerry at the weekend after an enforced 10-week stay in China.

Gerard Deasy was warmly hugged and kissed by his wife, Teresa, and daughters, Tara, six, and Sinead, four, when they travelled to Dublin Airport to meet him after his ordeal.

A tearful but happy Teresa, who has been hoping since before Christmas that her husband would be allowed home, said the last week felt like the longest one in her life.

“'The waiting, the waiting . . . one day more, one day more. The children kept asking me when is he coming home?”

Instead of the usual Christmas fare, Gerard had to make do with chicken sandwich for his Christmas dinner in Shenyang. His family planned to provide full trimmings at a celebration at home in Woodbrook Lawn, Monavalley, Tralee, over the weekend.

Mr Deasy also said he was looking forward to a “good pint”.

Mr Deasy, who runs the Eurolang school in Tralee, Co Kerry, went to China on business last September, but had his passport confiscated in November and the authorities refused to allow him leave the country. The Chinese alleged he owed money to a student and that he and another agent had not fulfilled promises. He strongly denies this, claiming he was set up.

The Chinese had been demanding $20,000 dollars and he paid $8,000 to get his passport back. When he arrived at Kerry Airport on Saturday, Mr Deasy declined to comment on the handling of the affair by the Department of Foreign Affairs. He said he would be making a full statement after meeting Foreign Affairs officials and officials from the Department of Justice this week.

Clearly exhausted after his two-day journey home, which began in Yanchang, on Thursday, with stops in Beijing, Copenhagen and Dublin, Mr Deasy said he had been given clearance to go back to China. He would be returning there, but had received no apologies from the Chinese authorities.

He said he feared for his safety for a time after his passport had been taken from him. He spent most of the time in a hotel in Shenyang, near the North Korean border.

“'The whole thing was the worst experience of my life,” he said, adding that he would be taking High Court proceedings against a person in this country who was involved in the affair. He said he had no income for the past two and a half months. Also, his company was owed more than €30,000. He would be seeking a court injunction to have a person's bank account frozen.

“'My financial situation is now extremely difficult,” he said.