Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. He used the word "interfere". I would not ask him to interfere, but I would suggest that he make strong representations to his Egyptian counterpart. The dispute is with the vessel. In a lawsuit, the Suez Canal Authority is seeking $916 million in damages, including $300 million for loss of reputation. The obvious action is to decouple the authority's legal dispute with the vessel from the cargo. The cargo is destined for Rotterdam, Ireland and other places across Europe. It includes cargo of considerable value, although a great deal of that value has been lost. The ship should be decoupled from the cargo in the lawsuit, which is the point I would like the Minister to make to his counterpart in Egypt.

I have approached the Egyptian Embassy in Dublin and the Irish Embassy in Cairo. I do not want to bad-mouth them, but I have not heard much from either. I cannot get through to the embassy in Cairo. That does not bode well in itself, as there needs to be good phone answering on that end. I have not been able to deliver my message to date.

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