Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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65. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the contact he has had with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, and the Egyptian government in regard to a person (details supplied). [38633/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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This long-running and complex consular case continues to be a top priority for the Government and substantial resources and time are being devoted to it, by the Taoiseach, by me as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, by officials in my Department, by our Ambassador and his team in Cairo, and by the entire Irish diplomatic network.

The Government is doing everything it possibly can to ensure that the Egyptian authorities are in no doubt about our determination to see this young man returned to his home and his family.

The Taoiseach has been in direct and personal contact with Egyptian President el-Sisi on numerous occasions calling on him to exercise his powers under Egyptian law to resolve this case and return this citizen to Ireland. He did so when he met the President face-to-face to discuss this case in New York in September 2015, and again in Paris in November 2015. The Taoiseach restated the Government’s position on the case again when he spoke to the President by telephone last July. The Taoiseach has also written to President el-Sisi on a number of occasions about this case, including in a letter in August 2016 and again, most recently, in a letter dated 17 November 2016.

In all of these contacts, the Taoiseach has underlined our concerns about the continuing detention of this young man, who has been in prison for more than three years without having been convicted of any crime, and who is part of a group trial that has been adjourned on many occasions.

For my part, I have been in continuous contact with my Egyptian counterpart, Foreign Minister Shoukry, about this case since my appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. I have met the Minister face-to-face on several occasions to discuss the case including, notably, during a visit to Cairo last June and in New York in September 2016. I discussed the case most recently with Minister Shoukry when I met him in Paris on Sunday, January 11th.

I have also spoken with the Minister by phone on many occasions about the case. I have also had many meetings and phone conversations about the case with the Egyptian Ambassador in Dublin, Soha Gendi.

The matter has also remained the top priority for our Embassy in Cairo and our Ambassador there raises this case regularly at all levels with the Egyptian Government.

In all these contacts we underline the Irish Government’s support for this citizen’s immediate return to Ireland.

Our key focus in this case is securing this citizen’s best interests. We are working to see him released by the Egyptian authorities at the earliest possible opportunity.

Regardless of our difficulties with the ongoing trial, the reality is the Irish government cannot directly interfere with a trial in another country. What we can do and what we are working very hard to do is to secure this citizen’s release by the Egyptian authorities at the earliest possible time so that he can return home to his family in Dublin, and to provide every possible consular support for his welfare while he remains in detention.

All of the sustained and focused actions that have been taken by the Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our Embassy in Cairo 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.