The partner of People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has called on Tánaiste Simon Harris to make a statement after Mr Murphy was detained in Egypt.
People Before Profit said Mr Murphy was detained in Egypt along with a group of people travelling through the country to reach Rafah on a Gaza peace march.
His partner Councillor Jess Spear said Mr Murphy was "detained for hours this afternoon and forced onto a bus to be brought to Cairo airport for deportation".
In a statement, Cllr Spear said his phone was taken off him but he was allowed call her briefly this evening.
"I’m concerned that Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has made no public statement on this matter.
"It is a serious matter for a member of the Dáil to be detained in Egypt and forcibly deported just because he was participating in a peaceful march to try and get humanitarian aid into starving people in Gaza," she said.
Cllr Spear appealed to Mr Harris to call on the Egyptian authorities to release him and others so they can continue their humanitarian mission to Gaza.
Earlier, People Before Profit said Mr Murphy and a group of people were "forced onto buses" and the party believes they are being taken to "Cairo for deportation".
People Before Profit's National Secretary Matt Collins called on the Government to demand Egyptian authorities release Mr Murphy and the others who have been detained.
He said: "They are on a peaceful march to demand that humanitarian aid is delivered to starving people in Gaza. There is no reason for them to be detained or deported.
"We also call on the public to contact the Egyptian embassy to demand that people on the Global March to Gaza are allowed to travel unhindered."
We have had our passports confiscated and are being detained. It seems Egyptian authorities have decided to crack down on the #GreatMarchToGaza. We are refusing to board the deportation bus. pic.twitter.com/RlOBAlQFFh
— Paul Murphy 🇵🇸 (@paulmurphy_TD) June 13, 2025
Earlier, in a post on X, Mr Murphy wrote: "We have had our passports confiscated and are being detained.
"It seems Egyptian authorities have decided to crack down on the #GreatMarchToGaza.
"We are refusing to board the deportation bus."
40 activists marching to Gaza stopped, organisers say
Hundreds of people came to Egypt this week for the Global March to Gaza, an international initiative intended to exert pressure for an end to an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave and draw attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
Organisers said activists were stopped in both Libya and Egypt.
"Forty participants of the Global March to Gaza have had their passports taken at a checkpoint on the way out of Cairo," the organisers of the Global March to Gaza said in a statement.
"They are being held in the heat and not allowed to move," they continued, adding that another "15 are being held at hotels".
Organisers said yesterday people from 80 countries were set to begin the march to Egypt's Rafah Crossing with Gaza, and confirmed some had been deported or were detained at the airport.
The group urged embassies to help secure their release so they could complete their voyage.
The Global March to Gaza had earlier said around 4,000 participants from more than 40 countries would gather in Cairo today to head to the war-devastated Palestinian territory.
According to the plan, participants were set to travel by bus to the city of El-Arish in the heavily securitised Sinai Peninsula before walking 50km towards the border with Gaza.
They would then camp there before returning to Cairo on 19 June.
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Separately, the "Soumoud" convoy, meaning "steadfastness" in Arabic, which took off from Tunisia, was also stopped this morning at the entrance to the Libyan city of Sirte, controlled by the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
"The caravan was barred from passing through at the entrance to the city of Sirte," Tunisian organiser Wael Naouar said in a video posted to Facebook.
The convoy, which is carrying about a thousand Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan and Mauritanian activists, requires authorisation from Egyptian authorities to reach Gaza.
"So far, we don't know whether we will be able to pass through or not," Mr Naouar said.
Some security officials told him they would be able to cross "in a few hours", while others insisted that "Egypt has denied (passage) and therefore you will not pass," he said.
"We will not turn back," he said.
One person was arrested in central Cairo this morning, after activists attempted to gather there amid heavy security presence, according to an AFP journalist on the ground.
Yesterday, the organisers of the march said Egyptian authorities had detained more than 200 activists in Cairo ahead of the march.
Some were deported from Egypt while others were released.
"We did not expect the violence with which many people were arrested, deported, and threatened," Hichem Al Ghaoui, a coordinator of the Global March, said yesterday on TikTok.
On Wednesday, Egypt's foreign ministry said that while it backs efforts to put "pressure on Israel", any foreign delegations visiting the border area must receive approval through official channels.
