Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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153. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide the family of a child with a copy of the letter he has sent to his counterpart in Egypt seeking a bilateral agreement to bring the child home; if other family names are on the letter, if he will delete same (details supplied); if a member of his staff will be allocated to immediately inform the family of any updates with Egyptian authorities when he receives same. [49720/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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For obvious reasons, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any family matter which may be the subject of legal proceedings now or in the future, but I can confirm that I have written to the family in question confirming as Egypt is not a contracting state to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, I have contacted my counterpart in Egypt proposing that their officials and my Department explore the possibilities of reaching an agreement as to how to assist any family when a child has been abducted. If the proposal is acceptable, any such arrangement would be subject to negotiation with the Egyptian authorities and there is no guarantee that such a proposal will be successful or that it could apply retrospectively. This is the up-to-date position in relation to what my Department is doing regarding a possible bi-lateral agreement with Egypt and the family concerned will be kept informed of relevant developments.