Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Chairman is aware, this consular case is a matter that continues to be treated with the utmost priority by me, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and by officials in my Department. As the committee will be aware, from previous briefings and recent correspondence, we have a very clear strategy in place which is focused on achieving a positive outcome within the earliest timeframe possible. That strategy is based on two clear objectives: first, to see the release of Ibrahim Halawa by the Egyptian authorities in order that he can return home to his family and his studies in Ireland; and, second, to provide consular support and ensure his welfare while he remains in detention. During the past 12 months I have intensively engaged with the Egyptian authorities, the European Union and international partners at a very high level in respect of this case. We continue to review our approach in line with developments and we retain the flexibility to adjust our approach, as and when that may be required.

I am aware of various submissions that have been made to the Department and the committee by NGOs and law firms advocating a more adversarial and legalistic approach. My Department has always been cognisant of the international legal framework that may be relevant to this case but surely the key question is what stands the best chance of securing Ibrahim's release. It is the Government's considered view, supported by decades of diplomatic experience in other consular cases and extensive consultation with states which have had citizens in similar circumstances, that the firm and measured diplomatic approach we are taking remains the best hope to secure the release of Ibrahim Halawa and his return to Ireland at the earliest possible date. In this context, members will appreciate how important it is that we continue to maintain positive bilateral relations with Egypt.

The Government has formally supported applications by Ibrahim Halawa’s legal team for both release on bail and release under the presidential decree on foreign prisoners. However, any decision to release Ibrahim Halawa or any other prisoner will ultimately be taken by the Egyptian authorities. Based on our consultations with other international partners, the available information suggests that it is unlikely there will any decision to release Ibrahim, either under the presidential decree or on bail, until after the trial process has concluded.

There is a lot of public and media interest in this case but, as I hope the committee will appreciate, it is not always appropriate or helpful to play out in public everything that we are doing on any particular consular case. Most of the work of my Department's consular team takes place away from the public glare and outside the media spotlight. These officials frequently deal with citizens experiencing extraordinary difficulties. They do so in a professional, compassionate and diligent manner, not only in this case but also in the recent handling of crises in Nepal, Berkeley in California and Sousse in Tunisia. My consular officials in Dublin and embassy staff in Cairo are working in challenging circumstances and are dedicated to their work. I am disappointed, therefore, by the personalised nature of some of the criticism of Department officials in regard to this case.

My Department’s consular resources are finite and they often have to operate on several fronts at once. I ask for the committee's understanding for our efforts to ensure that limited resources are deployed primarily in protecting our citizens rather than explaining each course of action taken in individual cases on an individual day in an individual city. Concerted and targeted work is ongoing behind the scenes with a view to ensuring that we are best placed to take advantage of any opportunity that arises to achieve progress towards a positive outcome for Ibrahim Halawa.

I share the committee’s concern about the length of time that Ibrahim Halawa has now spent in detention, and I have raised these concerns at the highest level with the Egyptian authorities and will continue to do so. I am also concerned by reports about the prison conditions and, where allegations of mistreatment have been made, my Department has taken the appropriate action. Since his arrest in Cairo in 2013, Ibrahim has been visited a total of 42 times by embassy officials. This unprecedented level of consular visitation indicates clearly the priority we are placing on doing all that we can to carefully monitor his welfare in detention and to advocate strongly on his behalf to the Egyptian authorities. In some very complex and challenging cases, the considered view of the Department of what is in the best interests of the citizen does not always coincide with the immediate demands for action being made by the citizen or his family. However, even in such difficult cases we endeavour to do all we can to engage with the family and to explain to them why we are pursuing a certain course of action in what we judge to be the best interest of their loved one.

I think it is timely for us to remember that we are all on the same side here, seeking the best for an Irish citizen in difficult and challenging circumstances. In recent weeks, officials in my Department's consular section have been publicly commended for their efforts to assist the Irish citizens and families caught up in the tragedies of Berkeley and Tunisia. It is the same small number of officials who are working to assist Ibrahim Halawa and his family and they bring the same level of commitment and compassion to his case as they do to all cases within the Department's framework. My officials are due to meet with the Halawa family once again tomorrow to discuss this case and I am happy to keep the committee fully informed of developments. I will undertake a briefing session for spokespersons if that is deemed appropriate.

I will address the specific question on the presidential decree. Legal submissions and an article in The Irish Timesthis morning appear to be based on an incorrect belief that the Government has thus far not taken any action with regard to the presidential decree. In fact, the Government has already formally supported the application that has been made for Ibrahim's return to Ireland under the presidential decree. A number of other countries have had their convicted citizens returned to their country under the presidential decree. We have followed the exact same procedures as those countries, with an application made by the lawyer and formally supported by the relevant Government. Once the correct procedure was clarified to the embassy, officials made contact with the family's lawyer on 27 January 2015 relating to a request for Ibrahim's transfer to Ireland under the November 2014 presidential decree. He stated that making such an application would require Ibrahim to give a power of attorney. On 1 February 2015, on a consular visit to Ibrahim, consular officials were able to obtain an official document, signed by Ibrahim, giving power of attorney to the team of the lawyer for the Halawa family. The embassy provided a letter to the lawyers to accompany the application, confirming Ibrahim's Irish citizenship and, with the assistance of the family, obtained an original of his birth certificate to accompany the application. On 4 February, embassy officials held a meeting with a member of the family via a phonelink with its lawyer to clarify the process. The application was made by Ibrahim's lawyer on 7 February this year. The Government's formal support for the application was recorded in a third party note from the Embassy of Ireland in Cairo to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 10 February 2015. What is being urged in the legal submission given to the newspapers and referred to in The Irish timestoday is nothing new. It was done months ago.

The submission also notes that the wording of the decree applies to both accused and convicted persons. However, at a meeting specifically to discuss this key issue in February, the embassy was told by the former prosecutor general himself that this law would not be applied by his office where an individual was in the course of a trial process. This tallies with what has happened in other cases where the decree is deemed to have been successfully applied. Peter Greste's initial trial had concluded and his retrial had not begun so, strictly speaking, he was not in the course of a trial process when he was returned. In the case of the American citizen transferred, his initial trial had been concluded and, again, he was not in the course of a trial process. Based on what we have been told, Ibrahim Halawa's citizenship status under Egyptian law may well be a further complicating factor. This is an issue I discussed with the Chairman some months ago, though the issue is glossed over in the most recent legal submission.

Ultimately, while I have the greatest of sympathy with Ibrahim Halawa, his family and his friends, it is the Egyptians who will decide how the application of the presidential decree is worked.

We have followed the exact same procedure and I have spoken to representatives at the highest level in other jurisdictions where a similar set of circumstances seemed to apply. Based on what we have been told by the Egyptian authorities and our international partners, we will await the conclusion of the trial. The case has been adjourned yet again, a development which I very much regret. It must be noted the recent adjournment was based on an application by the defence legal team. It felt there were witnesses who were not available but whose evidence was important to the trial. The judge acceded to this and he adjourned the case until 2 August.

I hope the case will be dealt with at that time. In the meantime, the welfare and the prison conditions of Ibrahim Halawa are being monitored by visits of an unprecedented nature by our consular team. I assure the committee that these visits will continue and we will continue to offer all the support available and possible between now and the trial. It is our hope that the trial will be concluded and we will then move to the next stage of the procedure.