Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This morning, we learned the very distressing and alarming news that a 19 year old Dublin man has gone on hunger strike in an Egyptian jail. Ibrahim Halawa was born in the Coombe. He went to Holy Rosary national school in Firhouse and then to Rockbrook College in Rathfarnham. He finished his education in the Institute of Education on Leeson Street. He is a Dubliner.

Ibrahim has been detained for two years without trial. He was 17 when he was arrested so he never collected his leaving certificate results. His trial has been postponed on four separate occasions. He is held in an adult prison in an oppressive and cramped cell with 40 other people. Every morning when he wakes he hears the screams of people being tortured. He has been beaten. The Irish Consul in Egypt has witnessed his injuries. He has been denied medical attention. If convicted, Ibrahim faces the very real prospect of life imprisonment.

Amnesty International has done considerable work on his case and has established beyond any doubt that Ibrahim Halawa is a prisoner of conscience. It firmly believes that he has been detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly.

What would the Tánaiste or any of us do if this was our child? I believe we would go to hell and back to secure his release. We would demand that the Taoiseach pick up the phone and tell the Egyptian Prime Minister to release this Irish citizen. That is what the Australian Prime Minister did to secure the release of journalist Peter Greste who shared a cell with Ibrahim. He did what any leader would do to protect the rights of a citizen. He intervened directly and decisively and secured the release of Peter Greste.

Will the Tánaiste join me today in calling on the Taoiseach to pick up the telephone to the Egyptian Prime Minister and call for the immediate release of Ibrahim? Will she also tell us whether she agrees with Amnesty International that Ibrahim is a prisoner of conscience and should be released immediately?

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