Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I and most people believe it is not in his best interest to play this out in public. We are all here in the interest of getting this young man out of prison. Deputy Boyd Barrett was not here at the start of this meeting so let me say that we have acted with responsibility on this issue.

The question was asked why the Taoiseach does not lift the phone. Not only did the Taoiseach do that, he met President el-Sisi twice. He met him last week at the COP21 meeting in Paris also and outlined the case. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, has met the Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Shoukry, and our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has met him twice. I also met the foreign Minister. Everything possible has been done at Government level in this regard. The Government has carried out all the steps outlined in the legal opinion and has followed the same steps the Australians did in the Peter Greste case. We have acted with honour on this issue because we want to try to get this man freed. We want to act in his best interest, not to play this out in a so-called courtroom here.

We are doing our best for this young man. Our embassy staff in Cairo are doing their best and they have met him 48 times since he was incarcerated. It is wrong that he is more than two years in prison and we all agree on that. We are all here for the same reason, to get this man released. However, we believe this is the best way forward. The case is coming up on 15 December and we hope some result will be achieved at that and that the young man can be home in the new year. That is our goal. It is the goal we all want.