Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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15. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has been in contact with President al-Sisi with regard to the continued detainment of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39874/17]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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33. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the efforts being made by the Government to secure the release of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39703/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 15 and 33 together.

I am sure all Members of the House joined with this young man's family and friends on Monday last, 18 September, in welcoming the news from Cairo that he and his three sisters had been acquitted at the conclusion of the trial in which they were defendants along with more than 400 others. This young man's name, Ibrahim Halawa, has been cleared and his innocence confirmed.

This Irish citizen has been deprived of his liberty for four years, and he has endured great hardship and distress. He has missed out on family celebrations, weddings of his siblings and births of nephews and nieces. When he should have been studying and planning his future in Dublin, he was a teenager locked in a prison cell in Cairo.

I want to pay tribute today to this extraordinary young man for his maturity, his strength of character and his resilience.

I would like also to pay tribute to his family for their relentless support of their son and brother throughout the past four years. Their dignity and tenacity have been an inspiration.

The Government's priority now is to support this young citizen and his family in every way that we can in order to ensure that he is able to return home to his family and friends in Dublin as soon as possible.

There are some practical procedures and formalities to be gone through in Egypt before he is able to fly back to Dublin, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our embassy team will be assisting and supporting him and his family to work through these processes and to make the necessary arrangements so that he gets home as soon as possible.

It is also appropriate today that I acknowledge the very significant efforts made on this young man's behalf by Members on all sides of this House, and also by fellow public representatives in the Seanad, the European Parliament and councils around the country over the past four years, and not least the Ceann Comhairle and the all-party and all-group delegation that went to Cairo in January to advocate for his release.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts made on his behalf over the past four years by the staff at our embassy in Cairo and in the consular unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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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.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I join my colleagues and, I am sure, the Ceann Comhairle in saying how pleased we all are that Ibrahim has been acquitted. Under the Ceann Comhairle's guidance, a number of us, including Deputy Paul Murphy, travelled to Cairo to meet with Ibrahim in January this year. That initiative was taken by the Ceann Comhairle and his regular contact with the Egyptian Embassy in Dublin kept up the pressure in the case.

I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett that four years is a long time. There were always questions about what evidence was there. I am delighted that Ibrahim Halawa has been acquitted. The Taoiseach has said that every assistance will be given to return Ibrahim home as soon as possible. Has the Minister of State an update regarding when he might be released and returned home?

It is important at times like this to acknowledge how hard our diplomatic team in Cairo under our former ambassador to Egypt, Mr. Damien Cole, and our new ambassador, Mr. Seán O'Regan, and Shane Gleeson worked. They worked assiduously in the background, although there were points when many of us questioned how good the diplomatic effort was and what was going on there. I know they spent a considerable amount of time on this case which they were so committed to. They deserve all our credit. We must pay particular credit his sisters, Somia and Fatima, who are the two sisters I know, and his family. We need to get him home as quickly as possible.

To reinforce Deputy Boyd Barrett's remarks, there are still people out there, and I have received phone calls from some of them, who question what this case is about and ask if we are sure about this campaign. Ibrahim is an Irish citizen. His background should not matter. He has been acquitted. He is not a terrorist, and we always knew that. People who do not accept that should really ask questions of themselves.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputies are correct in saying that every effort was made to ensure that Ibrahim was brought home. There were ten engagements with the Taoiseach at presidential level, 20 direct engagements at foreign ministry level and we had up to 40 members of staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade working on this case at any given time and around 20,000 person-hours were spent on this case. A significant amount of effort and work was put into this case.

Ibrahim Halawa's name has been cleared, his innocence confirmed and the most important thing now is that he returns home. Unfortunately, we cannot say when precisely he will return to Dublin. The Egyptian courts require a number of procedures, formalities and administration which all the defendants, of which there are 453, must go through. Our priority is that he will be in a position to return home to Dublin with minimum delay and we have done everything at this stage that we can. Our embassy has prepared and issued a new passport for him and we are trying to address the practicalities relating to his departure from Egypt, including those relating to his immigration status. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, and the Taoiseach are personally being briefed and updated on developments and stand ready to intervene directly if there is any sense of unreasonable delay regarding his release or his clearance to leave Egypt.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I pay tribute to this extraordinary young man, Ibrahim Halawa, for his maturity, strength of character and his resilience and to his family, friends and all those who supported him through this time.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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On this special occasion, I endorse everything everyone has said. My observation is that he is an inspirational young man. I salute his fearless sisters. Like other Members, I note that Mr. Damien Cole and the ambassadorial team in Cairo were exceptional in their dedication to their task. During my time in the chair, the Egyptian Ambassador in Dublin, H.E. Soha Gendi has been continuously and constantly available and assisted me in every way she could.