                                 Irish Times
                    "Senator says McAliskey's health
                             is deteriorating"
                               By Richard Balls
10 December 1997 

Ms Roisin McAliskey is suffering regular panic attacks, and her health is 
deteriorating, according to Mr Joe Costello, a Labour Party senator. Ms 
McAliskey (26), who gave birth to a daughter seven months ago, was 
suffering 12 or 13 panic attacks a day and would not be fit for court "for 
the foreseeable future", he said. A Department of Foreign Affairs 
spokeswoman said constant pressure was being applied on the British 
government to review Ms McAliskey's case. "The humanitarian aspects of this 
case have been on our minds for some time." 

At a conference in Dublin highlighting delays in the transfer of prisoners 
from British jails, Mr Costello said Ms McAliskey had fallen and was moved 
to a different hospital the day before he 
visited a number of prisoners in Britain last Friday. A Fine Gael TD, Mr 
Dan Neville, accompanied him to mark the second anniversary of the 1995 
Transfer of Persons Act. 

Mr Costello said Ms McAliskey had injured her leg and suffered regular 
panic attacks at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital in Beckenham, London. 
She faces extradition to Germany in connection with a mortar attack on a 
British army base at Osnabrck in June 1996. 

However, court proceedings have been delayed because of her pregnancy and 
ill-health. Ms McAliskey, who has denied any involvement, is being detained 
in hospital on conditional bail. The British government has been 
persistently criticised for her treatment since her arrest in November 
1996. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, recently raised the 
issue with the Northern Secretary. 