Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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397. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his efforts to secure the release of a person (details supplied) from prison in Egypt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16339/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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This consular case continues to be a matter of top priority for the Government and exceptional levels of resources are being devoted to the provision of consular support to the citizen and his family. The Government is doing everything it possibly can in our ongoing engagement with the Egyptian authorities to seek to have this young man returned to his home and his family at the earliest possible time.

The Government has repeatedly appealed to the Egyptian Government to release this young man, and has stressed in particular the humanitarian grounds for returning him to Ireland. The Taoiseach has made repeated representation to Egypt’s President el-Sisi, and I have raised the case on many occasions with my counterpart, Foreign Minister Shoukry. We have called for him to be released under the terms of Egyptian Decree 140; we have called for him to be released under the so-called ‘Youth Amnesty’ scheme, and we have made the case for his release on humanitarian grounds. The Egyptian Government’s consistent response has been that it cannot intervene while the matter is before the courts, and that the President can only consider the use of the discretionary powers that he has to release this citizen when the trial has ended and a verdict has been decided by the judges.

The Government maintains open lines of communication at all levels with the Egyptian Government on the case. I once again urged the Egyptian Government to release this citizen without further delay when I met with my Egyptian counterpart, Foreign Minister Shoukry, in Brussels on March 6th while the Taoiseach again wrote to the Egyptian President in recent days.

We have made it clear to the Egyptian authorities that we hold them responsible for ensuring this citizen’s welfare while he remains in their custody by carrying out regular medical checks and providing all required medical treatment.

Our Embassy in Cairo has paid an unprecedented number of consular visits to this citizen. The most recent consular visit was on March 29th.

The trial in which this citizen is a defendant will be back in court on 5 April. Officials from the Irish Embassy will be present in the court to observe the proceedings, as they have been at every hearing in the case to date.