I can confirm that officials in my Department and the Embassy of Ireland, Egypt, were contacted by a number of citizens in respect of the Global March to Gaza and are providing consular assistance to them. This includes a small number of citizens who were deported .
I can further confirm that officials in the Irish Embassy engaged with the relevant authorities in Egypt, as well as other partners, to determine the most appropriate advice and assistance that they could provide to the citizens in question.
In line with prevailing Egyptian legislation on such matters, as set out in the Department’s Travel Advice, Irish citizens are strongly advised to avoid all protests and demonstrations when in Egypt.
As set out in our travel advice, the vicinity of the Rafah border crossing is particularly dangerous at the moment and the border crossing is currently closed.
I wish to assure the Deputy that officials in my Department and the Embassy of Ireland, Egypt, stand ready to provide consular assistance to Irish citizens who get into difficulty abroad in accordance with the Department's Consular Assistance Charter (www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/overseas-travel/assistance-abroad/consular-assistance-charter/).
