{"id":315386,"date":"2026-02-24T21:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/315386\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:40:07","slug":"government-has-no-epstein-files-no-knowledge-of-allegation-about-young-woman-brought-to-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/315386\/","title":{"rendered":"Government has no Epstein files, no knowledge of allegation about young woman brought to Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has no files on Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> has said, as questions were raised in the D\u00e1il about the late convicted US sex offender\u2019s activities in Ireland.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said, \u201cMy understanding is that the Government doesn\u2019t hold any files in respect of Epstein, although I stand to be corrected on that,\u201d as Opposition TDs highlighted the continuing fallout from the Epstein files recently released in the US.<\/p>\n

Labour leader Ivana Bacik<\/a> said, \u201cWe urgently need release of all files related to Epstein\u2019s interests and activities in Ireland,\u201d as she highlighted the arrests of the former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson<\/a> and former prince Andrew<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger<\/a> criticised the Taoiseach for choosing to meet US president Donald Trump<\/a> for St Patrick\u2019s Day \u201cto present shamrocks, to smile and to nod in the White House, in the Oval Office, with a man who\u2019s named in the Epstein files more times than Jesus is named in the Bible\u201d. <\/p>\n

Martin told her, \u201cthe law must take its course, and there should be thorough and comprehensive investigations before we arrive at conclusions in terms of anyone else named\u201d in the files. That was what was happening in the UK, he added.<\/p>\n

Responding to the Labour leader, he said, \u201cI know there was an allegation in the Epstein files in respect of a young woman being brought to Ireland, but I have no knowledge of that. I have asked the Department of Justice if they have any. They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what the garda\u00ed are saying, in terms of their responsibility for the investigation of any allegations \u2013 they will investigate all complaints received, all allegations of serious crime, sexual offences, child abuse, and human trafficking. They\u2019re treated with the utmost seriousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bacik said she had met Lisa Phillips, an Epstein survivor who appeared on RT\u00c9\u2019s Late Late Show last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLisa spoke out with great courage to expose the extraordinary power wielded by this brutal abuser,\u201d and, \u201cher appalling experiences of Epstein\u2019s corrupt and depraved network\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor: Could Epstein links bring down the British monarchy?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Calling for the release of files on Epstein\u2019s interests and activities in Ireland, Bacik said, \u201cWe need to put pressure on the British Government to release all its relevant files too.\u201d<\/p>\n

She asked the Taoiseach \u201cas leader of a country which stands up for the rights of women and children\u201d to \u201ccommit to acting proactively on this in the interests of the survivors of Epstein\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin said, \u201cI salute the bravery and courage of Lisa Phillips in taking on what was a very corrupt and depraved network.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he told Bacik he was not clear which files she was talking about. He said: \u201cWe need to be more specific.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has no files on Jeffrey Epstein, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said, as questions were raised in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-315386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}