Bureaucracy holding up Ibrahim Halawa's release from jail
Bureaucracy is what is holding up Ibrahim Halawa's release from jail according to Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.
Mr Halawa was acquitted three weeks ago after a mass trial but has yet to be released from an Egyptian prison.
It is partly because authorities in Egypt want to process all 490 defendants in one go.
Minister Simon Coveney has said their pleas for Ibrahim Halawa to be made a special case have fallen on deaf ears.
"I think this is genuinely bureaucracy. This is a case that had 490 defendants in it," said Mr Coveney.
"What the prosecutor's office is saying is that they want to release the letters to the prison service in relation to all of those defendants at the same time.
"We had asked them fast track and prioritise Ibrahim Halawa's case, because he's Irish obviously. And they have said no, they need to deal with them all together."
