Norris made Seanad plea on behalf of second butt-buddy.
Monday October 03 2011
PRESIDENTIAL candidate David Norris has become embroiled in a new controversy as reports emerge that he lobbied the Seanad in 2007 in an attempt to get Irish citizenship for his then Algerian boyfriend.
According to reports in The Sun newspaper, the independent senator -- who is already under pressure over letters he wrote seeking clemency for an Israeli boyfriend who had been convicted of statutory rape -- made a plea in the Seanad after his partner, Tevfik Akin, had his citizenship application refused.
In a speech to the Seanad in April 2007, Mr Norris named Mr Akin, who was present in the visitor's gallery at the time, describing him as "a friend of mine and my partner".
Questioning why the Department of Justice had turned down Mr Akin's application, the senator said "The gentleman in the visitors' gallery demands to know who put a black mark against him and what is that black mark.
"I want the officials in the department to know I will pursue this matter to the bitter end.
"Woe for them if they have behaved wrongly because if I cannot get an answer in the Oireachtas, I will make sure in the courts that I get an answer."
Mr Akin arrived in Ireland in 2001 as an asylum seeker. He was eventually granted refugee status and then applied for citizenship in 2004. However, his application was turned down in 2006.
In his speech to the Seanad, Mr Norris accused the department of refusing to grant the application because Mr Akin was Muslim.
"I have asked him at every stage of this process whether there is any matter, including of a criminal nature, of which he is ashamed of... and he has assured me again and again that this is not the case.
"His only crime I can determine is that he is from a Muslim background."
Mr Akin has since been granted citizenship and now works as an attendant in St James's Hospital in Dublin. He and Senator Norris are no longer in a relationship.
According to reports in The Sun newspaper, the independent senator -- who is already under pressure over letters he wrote seeking clemency for an Israeli boyfriend who had been convicted of statutory rape -- made a plea in the Seanad after his partner, Tevfik Akin, had his citizenship application refused.
In a speech to the Seanad in April 2007, Mr Norris named Mr Akin, who was present in the visitor's gallery at the time, describing him as "a friend of mine and my partner".
Questioning why the Department of Justice had turned down Mr Akin's application, the senator said "The gentleman in the visitors' gallery demands to know who put a black mark against him and what is that black mark.
"I want the officials in the department to know I will pursue this matter to the bitter end.
"Woe for them if they have behaved wrongly because if I cannot get an answer in the Oireachtas, I will make sure in the courts that I get an answer."
Mr Akin arrived in Ireland in 2001 as an asylum seeker. He was eventually granted refugee status and then applied for citizenship in 2004. However, his application was turned down in 2006.
In his speech to the Seanad, Mr Norris accused the department of refusing to grant the application because Mr Akin was Muslim.
"I have asked him at every stage of this process whether there is any matter, including of a criminal nature, of which he is ashamed of... and he has assured me again and again that this is not the case.
"His only crime I can determine is that he is from a Muslim background."
Mr Akin has since been granted citizenship and now works as an attendant in St James's Hospital in Dublin. He and Senator Norris are no longer in a relationship.
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