Paul Murphy urges family reunification for Iraqi-Irish citizen
Paul Murphy raised a case in the Dáil about an Irish citizen who fled Iraq after ISIS took Mosul and whose mother remains effectively stranded in Turkey. He called on the Government to allow family reunification on humanitarian grounds and said parliamentary questions and letters to the Minister for Justice have gone unanswered.
Case details
The speaker described an Irish citizen who fled Iraq after ISIS seized Mosul, noting the citizen's father and other close family members were murdered. The citizen is currently in Ireland while his mother has been living in limbo in Turkey for years.
Parliamentary record
Paul Murphy said this was the third time he had raised the case in the Dáil, including with the Taoiseach, and that he has submitted multiple parliamentary questions and many letters to the Minister for Justice without satisfactory answers.
Government response
A respondent said they were not familiar with this specific case but defended the Government's record on repatriation and on offering safe harbour and refuge in recent crises, citing the continuing crisis in Afghanistan. The respondent said Ireland has been open to repatriation and reunification of families.
Follow-up offered
The respondent offered to take the case details and to raise them with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and with the Taoiseach. Paul Murphy insisted the request is a simple humanitarian ask - that the family should be reunified in Ireland.
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I want to raise a particular case about an Irish citizen who fled here from Iraq after ISIS had taken over Mosul. His father and other close family members were murdered. He is currently in Ireland, like I said he is an Irish citizen, but his mother remains in limbo effectively in Turkey and has been for years. This is the third time I have raised it in the Dáil with the Taoiseach, with the Taoiseach, now with you. Multiple parliamentary questions, multiple letters to the Minister for justice, many unanswered. The answer is very, very simple, they need to allow the family to be reunified on a humanitarian basis and it asks the Government to do it. It is a very simple humanitarian ask. I am not familiar, Deputy, with this specific case, I genuinely am not. I think you have seen the Government's response to the recent crisis and the continuing crisis in Afghanistan and other countries where we have been very open and rightly so to letting people, giving them safe harbour here and refuge here and in relation to repatriation and reunification of families as well. It is something that I think Ireland does pretty well. With this specific case, and I do not want to just give you an answer that you have received before, I do not have the details. If you give them to me, I will give you this assurance that I will raise it specifically with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and indeed with the Taoiseach. Thank you.
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