Travel ban for Tori Towey in Dubai lifted, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Simon Harris has told the Dáil that the travel ban on Tori Towey – the Irish woman who is facing criminal charges in Dubai – has been lifted.

Ms Towey was charged following a suicide attempt brought on by alleged domestic abuse.

Speaking in the Dail on Wednesday afternoon, Taoiseach Simon Harris said a travel ban imposed by Dubai authorities on Irish woman Tori Towey, who was reportedly charged with attempted suicide, has now been lifted.

‘I’ve just been informed that the travel ban has been lifted, that the embassy will take Tori to the airport as soon as she is ready to go and that the embassy, of course, will continue to follow up on the case, which is still active as of now,’ Mr Harris said.

He thanked the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates for its work on the case.

Ms Towey, 28, from Boyle in Co. Roscommon, was not allowed to leave the country and faced imprisonment instead for attempted suicide as well as drinking alcohol.

Her mother, Caroline, has flown to Dubai to be with her daughter.

Mr Harris had said earlier today that ‘no effort would be spared’ to get the Irish woman home.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the case in the Irish parliament for the second day in a row, criticising what she said was the ‘medieval, grotesque treatment of women’ in the United Arab Emirates.

She said that Tori Towey, a 28-year-old from Co Roscommon, had been working as an airline attendant in Dubai since last March.

‘(Tori) does not belong to Dubai, she belongs at home in Ireland,’ Ms McDonald told the Dail chamber.

The Taoiseach thanked Ms McDonald and Roscommon TD Claire Kerrane for raising the ‘distressing’ case.

He said the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates has been in constant contact with Ms Towey.

‘We want Tori Towey back in this country, we want her back home in Roscommon,’ Mr Harris said.

‘No effort will be spared by us, by Ireland, to make progress on this matter, to get Tori home. She’s not a criminal, she’s a victim of gender-based violence.’

Earlier this morning, her aunt, Anne Flynn, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the family were ‘very, very anxious.’

‘We keep hoping that we’ll get word that they’re on a plane, on the way home.’