Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We are all absolutely delighted at Ibrahim Halawa's release. He has had four years of his life stolen from him without any evidence against him, something which became apparent when the trial began. This raises the question of what he was doing on trial in the first place and how he could have been incarcerated for four years. The greatest credit goes to his sisters and family for their tireless, relentless, heroic campaigning on his behalf and also to Ibrahim himself for enduring the hardship and suffering. I also commend the diplomatic staff who assisted him. There is no doubt about the hard work they did and it is to the credit of this House that there was unanimity in seeking Ibrahim's release.

There are many issues which need to be addressed beyond this but throughout this case, there has been minority-led but a vocal and quite filthy racist campaign against Ibrahim Halawa, recycling many of the lies and justifications that the Egyptian regime itself might have used for his imprisonment. It is important for us to condemn those in strident terms. He is an Irish citizen. He is innocent. He is not a terrorist. He was just someone involved in a peaceful protest but whether he was Irish or not, regardless of his religious faith, colour or anything, no one should have been subjected to what he was subjected to by the Egyptian regime.

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