merrion street

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney TD, has welcomed the news from Cairo that Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa and his sisters have been acquitted.
Minister Coveney issued the following statement from New York, where he is currently attending the ongoing UN General Assembly session:
“On behalf of the Government and on my own behalf I welcome the news from Cairo that Ibrahim Halwa has been acquitted. This is the good news we had been hoping for. Ibrahim Halawa’s name has been cleared and his innocence is confirmed. I look forward to him being released from custody without delay.
My thoughts are with Ibrahim and his family at this time of great emotion for them.
The Government’s priority now is to support Ibrahim and his family in every way that we can in order to ensure that Ibrahim is able to return home to his family and friends as soon as possible.
We are conscious that there will be some practical procedures and formalities to be gone through before Ibrahim will be able to fly back to Dublin, but my Department and our Embassy team will be assisting and supporting Ibrahim and his family to seek to ensure he gets home as soon as possible.”
ENDS

Notes for Editors
While Ibrahim Halawa has been acquitted, it may still be some time before he is released from prison. This is because there may be certain procedures and formalities required by the Egyptian judicial and prison authorities.
After he is released from prison, our expectation is that it may be some further time before he will be able to fly back to Ireland. This is related to the fact that there will be immigration status and security issues to be addressed before Mr. Halawa will be able to depart Egypt