Egyptian ambassador declines committee offer to discuss Ibrahim Halawa case

The Egyptian ambassador has declined an invitation to appear before an Oireachtas committee and discuss the ongoing detention of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa in a Cairo jail.

Separately, the foreign affairs committee heard calls yesterday for Taoiseach Enda Kenny to attend an UN summit on the migration crisis in September.

TDs and senators yesterday heard from NGOs that more than 3,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean so far this year and that the sea is in “danger of becoming a massive grave”.