TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he addressed the trial of Dubliner Daniel Tatlow-Devally with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The 32-year-old Irishman is currently on trial in Germany alongside five others over an alleged break-in at the Israeli-owned Elbit Systems defence factory in the German town of Ulm in September last year.

He is charged with criminal damage against Elbit Systems, a company that supplies weapons systems to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Speaking outside government buildings today, the Taoiseach said he raised the case with Merz, who was in Ireland yesterday.

The Taoiseach said the government has provided ”significant consular support” to Tatlow-Devally and there has been up to six visits by Irish officials.

“The German legal system is somewhat different, and I don’t want to comment on the actual case as it is live, but I did raise it,” he added.

The Taoiseach outside government buildings today. Rolling News Rolling News

Minister for foreign affairs Helen McEntee said this morning that her department had engaged directly with the young man on the conditions in which he is being held. She added that her department has been in contact with his family.

“He has had access to visitors and has had the same treatment as any other person in this situation,” she said.

She said there is a need to respect the German legal system and added that the department will continue to monitor the situation.

In Dublin on Tuesday, Merz said the case ”was not a show trial” – a claim that has been put forward by Irish politicans who have attended the trial. Merz said judicial processes were conducted to internationally valid standards.

Irish politicians have raised about the conditions Tatlow-Devally has been kept in.

The Irish delegation, which included People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett and Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell, has also raised concern about the fact that no official recording or transcription of the trial is being kept, which could hamper appeal efforts.

Tatlow-Devally, along with other members of the group, are alleged to have caused up to €1 million worth of damage at Elbit systems, in a break-in in which pro-Palestine slogans were spray-painted on the site. 

If convicted, they will face up to five years in prison.