Exclusive: Taoiseach agrees to meet Epstein victim amid calls for inquiry into Irish links

Lisa Phillips was 21 and working as a model when she met the financier

Pressure has been mounting on the Irish government to investigate the disgraced paedophile's links to Ireland since the publication of some of the FBI's investigation into his crimes.

Phillips was 21 and working as a model when she met the financier and was sexually assaulted by him on his private island. They had been introduced by another model.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Late Late Show last year, Ms Phillips said called for a "thorough investigation into claims made by victims".

Epstein death was recorded as suicide in 2019. His body was found in a prison cell while detained on charges of sex trafficking girls as young as 14.

His former girlfriend and "fixer" Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in 2021, she was convicted of child sex trafficking, and in 2022 was sentenced to 20 years in prison

There are over 1,600 documents mentioning Ireland in the Epstein files, with flight logs for journeys into Shannon, Dublin and Belfast as well multiple business deals as well as conversation about women and girls in the country.

Epstein visited Ireland multiple times including the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge for a conference in 2002.

In 2003, prior to any of Epstein or Maxwell's convictions, a man called David Wassong emailed the English socialite asking if she was going to send him "names and numbers of people to play with in Ireland".

The Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik says that given Epstein often travelled with multiple women, it is likely women were trafficked into Ireland.

"We know that Jeffrey Epstein presided over a hideous and depraved international network of powerful male predators and we know from the powerful testimony of so many courageous survivors that he also did have links to Ireland," she said.

"I've seen all the references to Ireland that have so far been disclosed from the files. We know Epstein visited Ireland on numerous occasions. That he came in through Dublin, Belfast, Shannon airports, and we know from what Lisa Phillips has said that he never traveled anywhere without an entourage, chillingly, of young girls.

"So clearly, we clearly need to know more about Epstein's links to Ireland.

"We know he had significant business and money links, financial links, but we also need to know if abuse was carried out here in Ireland.

"I'm glad to say that as of this week, the Taoiseach has agreed to meet with Lisa Phillips when she is next in Europe. I will be arranging for the Taoiseach to meet her then, and I do thank him for agreeing to do that."

Epstein was also involved in multiple financial deals here including potential financial deals involving AIB, emails from 2011, document "AIB/Mandelson proposal (subject: "Peter and IRISH OPPORTUNITY").

Proposal: "I further think you should use Peter to spearhead it, as this is his sweet spot considering his
background."

In 2015, an email referencing someone "coming to visit from Ireland" with a photo attachment was sent to Epstein while another in 2016 from a sender identified only as "SS" include photographs. Epstein's
responses include "Very cute" and "Irish Great."

The most damning comes from unverified testimony from a woman who said she had been trafficked to Ireland. An FBI threat intake examiner who spoke to the woman noted:

"They would have sex with the young women and she was taken from Ireland and brought to Jeffery Epstein Island when she was 13 years old. Said that she was there when Prince Edward was there and
when Tony Hawk got married on the island."

Tony Hawk has confirmed that he was never on the island, and definitely was not married there. Mounting speculation that the woman was confused or wrong.

The Northern Ireland office is currently undertaking a review after DUP MP Carla Lockhart claimed that Jeffrey Epstein had visited Hillsborough Castle on at least one occasion.

The Taoiseach's office told JOE that the Taoiseach is willing to meet Ms Philips: "As the Taoiseach has stated, he is willing to consider a meeting with Lisa Phillips when time allows.

"We would continue to urge anyone with any information about allegations contained in the Epstein files to contact An Garda Síochána.

"Any complaint of sexual abuse or human trafficking involving any Irish citizen will be treated with the utmost seriousness by An Garda Síochána and investigated with the full rigour of the law."

Jena Keating from Cork, started a petition urging the Irish government to look into the issue.

"I created that petition because the violence and the exploitation of children is probably one of the hardest things to face as reality," she said.

"In 2020, I kind of went down a rabbit hole and... it just gave me a massive push to have to face the things that I probably didn't want in reality, but I wanted to contribute and make a difference. And so that's where I kind of am now, especially with all the Epstein files released. It's so far fetched from what anyone wants to believe is true and what's happening out there.

"I feel it's hard not to believe that there is something to do with it here. There are so many receipts of airplane landings in Ireland and connection to Ireland within the files that I do not believe it's in any way a coincidence."