Richard Boyd Barrett: 'Show Trial' for Irish Protester in Germany
Richard Boyd Barrett confronted the Government about the trial of Irish citizen Daniel Tatlow-Devally in Stuttgart, Germany, and accused German authorities of prosecuting protestors under laws for organised crime. He described courtroom conditions as unprecedented and urged the Irish Government to send monitors and make a public statement.
Courtroom conditions and treatment
Richard Boyd Barrett details allegations that Daniel Tatlow-Devally and other members of the OM5 were held in Ulm in harsh conditions and then brought to a Stuttgart court normally used for terrorists and organised criminals. He says defendants were placed behind high-security glass, restricted in communication with lawyers, and that riot police physically intimidated family members in the courtroom.
Consular response and Government position
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded that consular assistance has been provided since September, that consular visits took place and that the Department is precluded from interfering in another state's judicial process. Boyd Barrett challenged this response and pressed for stronger Irish action beyond consular support.
Legal and human-rights context
Boyd Barrett places the direct action against Elbit Systems in the context of the Genocide Convention and Ireland's support for the South Africa case. He said the activists acted to prevent the supply of weapons allegedly used in Gaza, and argued the use of organised-crime legislation is disproportionate to the non-violent protest described by the defence.
Calls for monitoring and public pressure
The deputy called on the Government to send official monitors to the ongoing trial and to issue a clear public statement condemning the treatment of the Irish citizen. He argued that diplomatic pressure and visibility could affect how the trial proceeds and how the detainee is treated over hearings spread across May, June and July.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Okay, Minister, the Daniel Tatlo-Davaly has been in prison in Ulm in Germany since September, incarcerated 23 hours a day, effectively in solitary confinement, in pretty shocking conditions in imprisonment, wasn't allowed to hug his family until there was intervention by myself and other TDs with a German ambassador, several months into his incarceration, wasn't allowed to get books of his own choice, and generally kept in pretty awful conditions. And his trial was due to begin yesterday in Stuttgart, and the circumstances of that trial, I should say, why is he in prison? Because he engaged in a direct action protest against Elbit Systems, who produce 80% of the weapons for Israel that they have used to commit the genocidal massacre against the Palestinians in Gaza. The protest was attempting to uphold the obligations of all states which they failed to fulfill under the Genocide Convention to act to prevent the commission of genocide. It was a direct action protest, but it was not one where anybody was physically threatened or harmed, the people didn't run away, they didn't resist arrest, they waited indeed for the police to come and arrest them, and represented no physical threat to anybody. But the German authorities have decided to convict them under legislation that's reserved for organized crime, and are trying them now in a court which is normally reserved for terrorists and for organized criminals. And the trial that began yesterday, the lawyers defending Daniel and the four other members of the OM5 who were involved in the direct action protest against Israel's genocide and the complicity of Germany and Elbit Systems in that genocide, described what happened in the courtroom as completely unprecedented. They've never seen anything like it. So for example, in any normal trial in Germany, the person who's on trial, even if they're a terrorist or a neo-Nazi murderer, can sit with their lawyers, sit in between their lawyers. This isn't being allowed to an Irish citizen. In an unprecedented move, or to the other members of the OM5, they're being put in behind a high-security glass cage, essentially, so they can't communicate properly with their lawyers, and they're being tried as organized criminals when they represented no physical threat to anybody, but were actually acting to protest against genocide. I was talking to an MP from the German Parliament who was going down to monitor the trial. He wasn't physically allowed into the court and was told it's full, but the mother of Daniel was in there. She said it wasn't full at all, right? And the legal team on behalf of the Defence are saying they've never seen anything like it. They've called for the judge to recuse herself, such is the sort of level of obvious bias. There was riot police in the court who were physically threatening members of the family and people who were in there, suggesting violence and so on against them, right? It's a show trial. It's a show trial. Now what they're asking is that the Irish government would send monitors to look over this trial. It's going to be spread over multiple days, spread across May, June, July, but also call on the German government to stop treating these people as if they're organized criminals, when actually they're people who are upholding international law in protesting against the genocidal horror that Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people, and that Elbit Systems were providing the means for Israel to commit that crime. Thank you, and I'm responding on behalf of my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who are unavailable this evening due to their, as a part of the ministerial duties this evening. Providing consular assistance to Irish citizens who find themselves in difficulty abroad, including in case of arrest or detention, is a cornerstone of the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its embassies and consulates around the world. Each year, the Department provides support to a significant number of Irish citizens arrested or detained overseas, and our aim to us has always been to place a strong emphasis on ensuring that Irish citizens receive timely and empathetic consular assistance. We are aware of the case referred to by the deputies, and consular assistance has been provided to the citizens referred to since September 2025, soon after detention. I can confirm that a dedicated consular officer in the Consulate General of Ireland in Munich has been assigned to support the citizen and their family, and has provided support and advice in accordance with the Department's consular assistance charter. I can further confirm that staff in the Consulate General in Munich, including the Consul General and Deputy Consul General, have undertaken four consular visits to the citizen in prison, the most recent on 10 April. We are in regular contact with the citizen and with family members. Consular visits are an opportunity to check on the welfare of a citizen, ascertain if there are any medical issues that require attention, offer pastoral support and assess the conditions of detention. Our consular officers can also act as conduits, helping to share information from and to loved ones in Ireland, if that is required by the citizen. In relation to the conditions of detention in the case referred to by a deputy, I understand that these conditions are the same as those of any other person in their situation, which includes access to video calls and in-person visits. Prisoners at the facility in question also have access to a social worker. I understand, as you said, that court proceedings in this case started yesterday. As laid out in the consular assistance charter, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its embassies and consulars abroad are precluded from intervening in the judicial and legal processes of another country. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment on the ongoing legal case. You said that you asked to send monitors to the trial, and I will bring that back to the Ministers. I want to assure you, Deputy, that the Department will continue to provide all necessary and appropriate consular assistance to the citizen and their family. I know you're not the senior minister and you're just reading off the script, which is a bit frustrating given that there's somebody facing very serious charges in a court in Germany and been treated in an absolutely disgraceful way for protesting against genocide. But this is about genocide. Ireland and Germany and 153 other countries are signatories to the Genocide Convention. In case you don't know what's in that and what we signed up to, what we signed up to, and every signatory did after the Holocaust, was as signatories to prevent even a suspicion of a possible genocide taking place. To act to prevent it and to hold on our power. Now states have failed to do that self-evidently. That's why Ireland eventually joined the case, South Africa case, against the genocide. But people haven't prevented it because of course the genocide continues in Gaza. So Daniel, an Irish citizen, and other people acted to do what states have failed to do, to try and disrupt the ability of Elbit Systems in Germany to provide Israel with the weapons to commit a genocide. And for that, the German government are prosecuting them as if they were organized criminals. Not just for property damage or protesting or public order offenses, as organized criminals. And they have brought them into a courthouse normally reserved for terrorists and people involved in organized crime. Riot police all over the place. Restrictions being imposed which their legal teams say are completely abnormal. The judge won't even talk to the defense legal team about the conditions in the court and the conditions under which Daniel is being detained. So this isn't normal and to simply say we don't interfere is not good enough when an Irish citizen has been treated like this for protesting against a genocide which the Irish government even think may be a genocide because that's why he joined the case. So we're asking you to send monitors to the trial but also to make a public statement in support of Daniel. And to say that the way he's been treated by the German legal system is an absolute disgrace because that pressure can actually impact on the German government. Thank you Deputy. As Preez you mentioned, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is fully aware of this case and has provided all appropriate consular assistance to the citizen and their family since September 2025 and will continue to do so. The department through its consulate general in Munich has been in regular contact with the citizens since their detention began and over a series of consular visits it's been possible to verify that the conditions of their detention are in line with those of other detainees. Our embassy and consulates overseas play a vital role in providing support to Irish citizens who have been arrested or detained and this is a core part of our consular assistance mandate. And again the Department of Foreign Affairs is precluded for intervening in the judicial and legal processes of another country in the provision of consular assistance. I will bring your views back to the department.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
