Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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176. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the efforts made by the Irish Government to secure the release of a person (details supplied) in view of the deferral of their court case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29034/16]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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179. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the recent efforts that have been made by the Government to secure the release of a person (details supplied) particularly in view of the deferral again of their court case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29158/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 176 and 179 together.

The case of this citizen remains a high priority for me and the Government. The Government is continuing to use every possible opportunity to underline our concerns about this case to the Egyptian Government, and also with the EU.

On 24 September I met with Foreign Minister Shoukry in New York where I again highlighted my concerns at the repeated delays in the court proceedings and reinforced the Government’s support for the recent Decree 140 application made by this citizen’s lawyers. Both I and An Taoiseach have communicated our support for this application in writing to Minister Shoukry and President el-Sisi respectively.

As has been previously reported to the House, An Taoiseach has been in direct contact on a number of occasions with President el-Sisi of Egypt about this case, underlining the Government’s concerns about the continuing detention of this young man, who has been in prison for over three years now without having been convicted of any crime, and who is part of a group trial that has been adjourned on fourteen occasions.

At the last hearing (29 June), the trial was adjourned until early October following an application by defendants for an expert review of the audio-visual evidence in this case. It was originally anticipated that a technical hearing connected to the audio-visual evidence review would take place on 2 October. However the hearing did not proceed as 2 October was in recent days designated as the opening day of the Hijra (Islamic New Year) Feast, and a public holiday.

The Court Office has indicted that the next hearing date is likely to be 12 November and we are awaiting confirmation of this date through official channels. On Sunday last, 2 October, I spoke directly to Egypt’s Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Ms. Soha Gendi, expressing my concern about further delays and underlined the Government's strong desire to see this citizen returned to Ireland as a matter of urgency. My officials are continuing to work closely with this citizen’s family and with his lawyers in Dublin and Cairo.

The Taoiseach and I stand ready to further engage with the Egyptian Government as and when appropriate, in line with our key focus of securing this citizen’s best interests; this means continuing our determined efforts to see him released by the Egyptian authorities at the earliest possible opportunity and, in the meantime, providing consular support for his welfare while he remains in detention.

All of the sustained and focused actions that have been taken by my Department throughout this case have been aimed at furthering these two objectives, and importantly, avoiding any action that could be counterproductive or detrimental to this citizen’s best interests.