Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid the Minister's activity is not working. Something needs to change. While the Minister says there has at least been some progress, there is no sign of this court case coming to an end. It is a mass trial of 480 people, including one European citizen from this State. Why is the European Commission delegation in Cairo not monitoring the case given that this is a European citizen? What has the Minister done specifically to change that so European Union monitoring takes place and the Egyptian Government knows that it is not just the Irish Government but the whole European Union which finds this situation intolerable? What has the Minister done to get EU monitoring of the case and why has it not happened? Our parliamentary delegation to Cairo could not have made it more plain to the European Commission that we wanted that monitoring to happen. It was one of the most heightened exchanges of our visit but nothing has happened since. What is the Minister going to do to effect that one lever over which we at least have some control rather than to say there is some progress and that some witnesses have been heard? Why is the European Union not in that court to see what is going on and to represent the European and Irish citizen in the case?

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