Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the concerns of colleagues about this case and others that have been mentioned. As I said earlier, officials from my Department spoke to the Saudi ambassador to Ireland on 9 November to set out our concerns about the ongoing detention of Ms al-Hathloul and the conditions under which she is being held, including the restrictions on visits from her family and other concerns, some of which have been outlined. Ireland also raises concerns about women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, including Ms al-Hathloul, as a member of the EU. The UN delegation in Riyadh has raised the cases of the detention of women human rights defenders directly with the Saudi authorities on multiple occasions and at various levels. I welcome plans, which are advanced, to establish an EU-Saudi Arabia human rights dialogue co-chaired by the EU special representative, Eamon Gilmore. This will provide a valuable additional forum to discuss human rights issues, including individual cases such as the one that has been raised. Deputies are asking me to take a more direct approach with the Saudi embassy here in Dublin and I will certainly do that on the back of the requests made today.

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