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

I will continue to keep in close contact with the members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, with the spokespeople of the main Opposition parties, and with Deputy Smith in particular. There have been some concerns regarding his health and the conditions in the prison. I am very mindful of those concerns. The embassy previously lodged formal requests with the appropriate authorities for a move within the prison and for access to a doctor. The prison authorities sought to organise a trip to the prison hospital for Ibrahim Halawa last week. He declined to go. At the suggestion of the embassy, his lawyers also lodged a medical request with the prison authorities. The embassy has as yet received no response to its request for a move to another part of the prison.

The embassy will continue to provide strong consular support for Ibrahim Halawa himself and to monitor his health and conditions in detention. We will continue at every level to advocate on his behalf. Once the court case has been concluded, assuming a sentence in some form may well be imposed, it may be appropriate for the Irish Government to make political representations and to request the Egyptian authorities to confer a presidential pardon. At that time, we will engage. At this stage, it is not possible for such a pardon to be forthcoming because the trial has not been concluded.

I am concerned at the delay, as I have said in the House, to my counterpart in Egypt and to a number of other international actors. The position is that there is an application by the defence lawyers which led to the most recent postponement of the case. The judge has agreed to schedule the case for a hearing on 2 August. As Deputy Smith has indicated, since the hearing on 3 June, it has been confirmed that the trial judge is due to retire. It is not clear whether this will have any effect on the timing or scheduling of the current trial.

I have continued to highlight Ireland's concern at the length of time that Ibrahim Halawa has now spent in detention without conviction. The appointment of a replacement judge and the timings of the hearings in this case are entirely controlled by the Egyptian judicial system. I will keep the House, members of the foreign affairs committee and the spokespeople on the other side of the House fully informed.

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