Paul Murphy returning to Ireland after being held in Egypt
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who was detained twice in Egypt while participating in the Global March to Gaza, will return to Ireland today.
He was among a group of participants in the march from Ireland who will fly back to Dublin.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Murphy said that no other Irish citizens are currently detained in Egypt.
He said some are remaining in Egypt and said he is "conscious of their safety and not putting them in any jeopardy."
Mr Murphy said it was not initially clear to him that he was being detained.
"For the first three hours or so, it was just a slow, bureaucratic process. Things were taking a long time. I asked to leave and was told I couldn't. The whole time they had my passport, and it became clear that I was being detained, as unfortunately hundreds of have been in Egypt, and many people deported.
"Yesterday, in total, I was in the police station for nine hours," he added.
The TD for Dublin South West said that there would be no renewed attempt for the group to continue their march to Rafah, and that they were disappointed that they had not succeeded.
Have now been released, thanks again for all the support. Others from #GlobalMarchToGaza still detained.
Will comment further when I've left Egypt.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/ZWlmooSQuG
— Paul Murphy 🇵🇸 (@paulmurphy_TD) June 16, 2025
"Obviously, we are disappointed that we didn't get to Rafah. But, we have had probably the largest international people-powered coalition for Palestine in a very long time.
"This phase of the Global March to Gaza is over, there won't be a renewed attempt to get to Rafah. But then our focus turns to events, like in Brussels next week, where the European foreign ministers are scandalously going to be meeting with the Israeli foreign minister at a time when Israel has 20 months of genocide in Gaza, as well as starting a war with Iran," he said.
Hundreds of people came to Egypt for the Global March to Gaza, an international initiative intended to exert pressure for an end to an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory and draw attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
Mr Murphy said that pressure needed to be put on western governments to get Israel "to stop what they are doing".
"Many western governments, and many of the people who were there, are coming from countries where their governments are effectively arming and funding Israel. You now have Ursula von der Leyen saying Israel has a right to defend itself at this moment, when they're not just responsible for regional instability but genocide.
"But also, our own Government ... We need to go beyond words, and we need to match those words with action, which means the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill, it means stopping weapons flying through our skies, and it means stopping our Central Bank authorising the sale of Israeli war bonds across Europe.
"Relatively speaking, our position is privileged. Therefore, it's still incumbent on all of us to do whatever we can. Unless you close your eyes, you can't not be aware that there is a genocide happening in Gaza," he added.
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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
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RTÉ News
6 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
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