IRELAND: Preparations for a visit by a Government-ordered delegation to Baghdad today to secure the release of kidnapped Irish journalist Rory Carroll were under way until news of his release emerged shortly before 8pm yesterday.
The team, led by Ambassador Antoin MacUnfraidh, were ordered to travel to Iraq yesterday after talks between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and other senior Ministers.
Mr MacUnfraidh, who now serves as the State's ambassador to Finland, was ambassador to Iraq up to 1990 before the Republic's embassy there was closed, shortly before the first Gulf War.
He had been due to travel, along with the rest of his team and some Department of Defence officials, to London this morning for briefings with British military and intelligence officials before travelling on to Iraq.
Last night Mr Ahern said the Government had decided to send a mission to Baghdad to emphasise that Carroll (33), the Guardian's Iraq correspondent, was an Irish citizen, even though he worked for a British newspaper.
Up to then the Government had maintained a low public profile, fearful of saying anything that would make Carroll's situation worse, though it had been optimistic on Wednesday that he would not be harmed by the kidnappers, who are understood to have been al-Sadr supporters.
However, the mood in Foreign Affairs "dipped" yesterday morning once there was no contact from the kidnappers.
"I became despondent when there was no communication from them this morning, I must confess" the Minister said last night.
Other than Mr MacUnfraidh, the team was to have included another Department of Foreign Affairs official, two Defence Force intelligence officers and a Garda superintendent from headquarters.
Most of the team, who would have been based in the US-guarded green zone in Baghdad, speak Arabic and have past experience of Iraq and other Middle East countries, Government sources said last night.
The decision to send it had been taken after the Government was advised of the importance of emphasising Carroll's Irish nationality as quickly as possible to his kidnappers.
"We feel that it is important to have people on the ground to assess the situation rather than deal with it at a distance. This is as high-powered a team as the Irish Government can send out," said the Minister for Foreign Affairs at a 5pm press conference.
Mr Ahern travelled to Blackrock, Dublin, to tell Mr Carroll's father, former Irish Times US correspondent Joe Carroll, and other family members of the Government's decision. He spent an hour there with the family.
The Minister learnt of Carroll's release shortly before 8pm just as he arrived at his Dundalk home.
"He was told that Rory was released and was drinking a beer in Baghdad," a department official said last night.
"I don't know what is in the mind of the kidnappers. There has been no contact yet," Mr Ahern said yesterday shortly before he visited Carroll's family.
The Minister paid tribute to European Union colleagues for their help. "They have been very helpful with any contacts that they have in the area that might be useful to us," he said.
Department of Foreign Affairs officials had spent the day contacting colleagues in the Irish embassies in Tehran and Cairo, organisations working in Baghdad, and the UK Foreign Office.
Sources indicated that Army intelligence officers had contacted former Defence Force personnel now working for organisations in Iraq, some of whom work as security guards.
Last night Bernard Allen, Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, said the party wholeheartedly welcomed the release of Rory Carroll.
"His calmness and professionalism must have contributed to his release and I congratulate all who were involved in the campaign to free him."