Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 1 January, the Egyptian court set aside the conviction and ordered a retrial of the charges and Mr. Greste was then transferred to Australia. Mr. Greste was in the same position as Ibrahim is today. The conviction had been set aside and he was now awaiting a retrial. Ibrahim Halawa is in the same position today.

There are many UN and international procedures we could pursue, such as the International Court of Justice in this case. Are we going to pursue this issue through the UN conventions regarding a fair trial, the rights of the child and freedom from torture conventions that Egypt is part of? I believe we are all agreed that we want the same result. I am concerned with what works. I know that when the Prime Ministers of Australia and Canada became involved, that worked. It is simple to see it worked, because we see that in the newspapers and their citizens are now on bail or have been transferred back to their home countries.

There are important issues in regard to the charges Ibrahim Halawa faces now and as to whether he is in the same position today as Peter Greste was when he benefited from the presidential decree. There is significant information and misinformation out there. We need to get the situation clarified because Ibrahim is now approaching his 700th day in prison. This is unacceptable for an Irish citizen, who was a child of 17 when arrested. We need to do all we can to get him released. I appreciate the efforts made by the Minister to date to get him released.