Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Please allow the Chair to speak. There is no case so far against Ibrahim Halawa. What is the goal of the committee today? For all of us, the goal is to obtain the release of Ibrahim Halawa. We received a very strongly worded letter today from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on the issue. I ask the members to read it seriously line by line to see what is in it. I quote one part:

Now that the formal application for release is being considered by the Egyptian court, it remains the considered view of the Government that the work necessary to assist in reaching a positive outcome in this case, which is ongoing and continuous, is [most importantly] best done in a low key, measured and resolute fashion.

I direct members to the end of the Minister's letter, the last line of which reads, "I intend to be active in this case in the coming days and will be in touch again with you before the Easter break". We are all saying the Minister is doing a great job and no one here has undermined his work or that of his officials here or in Cairo, including ambassador Moylan. I ask the members of the committee to take on board what the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, says in the letter he has sent them. They should take on board what is happening here. We can revisit the case in the next two weeks to see what the story is if nothing is happening. I believe something positive can happen in this case if it is left to our officials and embassy to continue to make representations for the release of Ibrahim Halawa. It is hoped it will. This is what we all want.

Rather than jeopardise anything that might happen in respect of Ibrahim Halawa, we should wait and see. The judge has indicated he will accept oral and written submissions from lawyers on a particular date, which is something that has not happened before. There is a great deal of progress being made and I ask the members to let the embassy and Minister do their jobs in the coming few weeks to see if we can get Ibrahim released. Bringing it to another stage now might undermine the role of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.