Irish Prisoners Abroad Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01 ============================================================ Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East I completely refute that. I have raised this directly with my German colleague. I have no issue in raising this case or highlighting where there are issues of concern. I have consistently stated that the role of our consulate and our teams, first and foremost, is to protect and support our Irish citizens. It is not to provide legal advice, nor to contradict or take on the role of the legal advisers. Daniel and his family have a legal team that is supporting them. I have said clearly today that I am happy to engage further based on what the Deputy has just outlined. Another case has been highlighted to me of an Irish citizen who is abroad, where the criminal justice system is different and where the rules being applied are similar to rules applied to other citizens, not just our own. We have to take that into consideration. The Deputy has just outlined another case that I was not aware of, which sounds completely different and contradictory. I am happy to engage further with the Deputy on this and see if there is more we can do. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-10-01