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LAST UPDATE | 25 Mar 2019
AN IRISH WOMAN being held in Syria who is suspected of links to terror group ISIS has said that she wants to come home.
Lisa Smith was speaking to a CNN journalist from a camp where she is being detained in the war-torn country.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney today said the Irish government has a responsibility towards its citizens will try to bring Smith home.
The Dundalk native previously worked in the Irish Defence Forces but left service in 2011.
She went on to convert to Islam and married a Muslim man. It is believed she departed for Syria in 2015 after her marriage broke down. While there, she married a British man. It is understood he was killed two months ago.
Smith told CNN: “I think the people should just realise all the people here are not terrorists.
“I want to go home,” she added.
When asked what would happen if she did return to Ireland, she said she would be “watched” but didn’t know whether she’d be sent to prison.
Smith said: “I’m already in prison.”
Coveney said Smith’s case is a consular one and “like all Irish people, we want to look after them and bring them home if they want to come home”.
He told RTÉ News the case is a “particularly unusual” one.
It involves a young child, and a mother, both of them Irish citizens in a warzone, in a camp that was linked to some partners and children of ISIS fighters, controlled largely by Kurds, and so it is more complicated than most consular cases would be, to put it mildly, but we do have a responsibility here as a State…
“We will try to follow through on this responsibility and find a way to bring her home.
“Part of the problem here is that this is a former warzone and it isn’t easy to access. She also doesn’t have the capacity to communicate easily from where she is and we haven’t had direct contact with her,” Coveney said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had previously indicated Smith will have the right to return to Ireland, and it will be the first case of Ireland repatriating a member of the Islamic State group if it occurs.
Now that the Islamic State group has been defeated in north-east Syria, the Irish state may soon have to deal with the return of Irish citizens from the war zone.
The Explainer
In this week’s edition of TheJournal.ie’s The Explainer podcast, we delve into what happens if members of Islamic State return to Ireland, following defeat in Syria.
We examine the current state of play regarding Islamic State in Syria, why its members are leaving the country, and what Ireland’s options are for returning citizens.
You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or via SoundCloud below – you can also head straight to iTunes, Spotify, Acast, PodBean, Podcast Republic, and Stitcher.
With reporting from Órla Ryan and Michelle Hennessy
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You are home love. Please stay there. You’re not wanted in Ireland.
@Luke Lee: She is Irish, she’s our problem and she should be dealt with here.
@Cian Nolan: Banged Up Abroad. Its grand as it is.
@BatMon: she serviced jihadi John?does she paint and clean gutters?i might be interested.
@Fr Romeo sensini.: They don’t have gutters in that part of the world
@BatMon: no they just have gutter snipes
@Cian Nolan: no to me she has given up citizenship.
@Cian Nolan: b*****x she made her isis bed in Syria now she can lie in it
@Cian Nolan: as an adult she gave up that right to assist terrorism. Leave her where she is. She can reflect on the quality of life she had to what she has now.
@Cian Nolan: dealt with ? What is her crime in Ireland?
@Liam Carlin: According to your criteria, Hitler would be eligible to enter Ireland!
@Cian Nolan: will you mind her and make sure she is a good girl when she comes back…
@Cian Nolan: Why not do like the UK did and evoke her passport
@Luke Lee: Agreed, just realized there’s no benefits and free housing in islamland and wants to come home, sorry your grand where u are, made your bed lie in it!
Lot of yazidis would have loved to go home too, but now will never have the chance.
@Winston Smith: would this government bring an ex IRA volunteer home as fast .
You made your bed, now sleep in it. Good riddance to you!!!!
@Ciaran Fairley: these politicians really have their finger on the pulse when it comes to what the people want.
@DavidOReilly: I suppose you’ve never made a mistake
@James Lynch: No, I’ve never committed genocide and mass rape.
@Ciaran Fairley: whats the betting minister murphy will find a home for her and her kid,no hotel room for this lady,Regina will get her the widows pension immediatly.Good old ireland
She’s in her ideal world, she’d only be disappointed in Ireland. The far away hills are green, lady; stay where you are and enjoy the privileges of a shariah paradise.
@John Mulligan: Ok….let her come home….but make her live in Drogheda….that’ll soften her cough.
@John Mulligan:
Judging by all the lovely comments i have read i think she should be very careful for what she wishes for. Where she is now might be a hell hole but at least it’s a hell hole where people there are like her and on her side. If she thinks she’s going to come home and get a slap on the wrist and then get on with her life by getting a job and dropping her kid to school and doing day to day things like everyone else she will be sorely mistaken. As we all know Ireland is a very small country and no matter where she goes people will know who and what she is, she could soon find herself longing for the comfort and friendship of the blue tents in syria and that’s when she could become a danger with a lot of built up frustration and what to lash out at somebody.
Ireland is one of the countries IS stated it was at war with. She pledged allegiance to IS. She is a traitor.
Stay with your new brethren. There was a piece on sky and in Sunday times about a women’s prison, with many kids, that the Kurds are struggling to keep a lid on. There are 75,000 in it, huge. And it contains some seriously fanatical ‘widows’ in particular, very violent and hostile to their new environment. Pretty worrying as to how their kids will turn out in time.
Tired of these people and their failure to face up to the consequences of their actions.
If the SDF hadn’t defeated ISIS they’d still be the part of that evil system …
Tough luck love
She not welcome..
Boohoo. Why didn’t she come home before she was detained if she wanted to come home so much.
While she has the right to return, there should be some consequences, you can’t just run off, join a barbaric terrorist organisation, come home go shopping in Tescos as if it were a trip to Tenerife. I hope she is not as naïve to expect so. We don’t know how her experience has affected her, maybe she is fine or she could be waiting to plan an attack on Irish soil.
@Catalanista: that’s sadly what it’s going to take in order for our gullible government to cop on. If they allow this person back in, and there’s a terrorist attack further down the line, they will have blood on their hands.
She knows to much from her time as the government jet trolley dolly.
@Dave Doyle: she is a potential danger to Irish people we don’t need this threat
Life is hard isnt it lisa………. I think i left the iron on.
C U Next Tuesday
She has the right to return to Ireland. She doesn’t have the right to have the costs of her returning footed by Irish tax payers. Airlines have the right to refuse her custom. Syria’s neighbours have the right to refuse her entry. Get a pilots license and your own plane, love.
@Derek Goulding: we all know how that ends…
Allah sure does work in mysterious ways. Ha ha
She’s too dangerous to be allowed to step foot on Irish soil.
You made your bed, now sleep in it.
I can’t help but think she would delighted for the caliphate to be strong again.
@Rebecca De Stanleigh:
She did an interview for ITV in which she stated that the caliphate wasn’t dead.
Am I being super paranoid in thinking that there could be a more sinister reason for numerous IS widows returning to the west now? Like trying to groom young women etc.? Or maybe this is a ludicrous thought….
She is 37 years old. Even I knew it was a BAD IDEA to go be part of a Terrorist Organisation. It is a terrible thing to happen to someone but she made her choice, she must now deal with those consequences. Sorry luv.
@Miriam McNamara: There is such a thing as grooming adults as well as children you know
@Green Lentils: She was in the Irish Defence Forces, she should have known better.
It’s funny how she didn’t want to come HOME when daesh had control of the citizens, now they have nothing she wants to come home, sure, why not, but straight to portlaoise prison for you for membership of an illegal organisation who declared war of the Republic of Ireland. 20 years minimum just like the rest of them there and no good friday agreement for you to get out early.
@All A Big JOKE: Bit of a harsh comparison, don’t think the chap joined ISIS to fight and dont recall him saying that terrorism in Ireland was acceptable. This one was in the Air Corp and then fupped off to join the war against the west with a bunch of barbarian holy rollers. Didn’t work out and now she wants to punch the eject button. Take her back, put the child in foster care, throw her to the wolves in the Special Criminal Court and then dump her in the women’s wing in Portlaoise for a very long time, for offences against the state.
She was an adult when she made the choice. I’m not Irish but I think she knew (or was delusional) what she was signing up for. So either she shouldn’t be allowed back or tried for being a traitor.
From a serving member of the defence forces of 37 yrs, I say treason is treason ! And let her and her comrades in treason rot where they are……..
She’s fine where she is
I am not racist but do we really want to allow a suspected terrorist with links to ISIS back into our country increasing the probability of sleeper cells being formed, no I didn’t think so.
Isis have killed many Irish Citizens, she can go to hell
Just on the news they are working on bringing her home,sure why not she can join the rest of them that ffg already let stroll into the country,straight into a house,welfare thrown at her,medical for free,sure what a cushy country we have,all funded by the Irish taxpayer,this place makes me sick nowadays.
@Green Lentils: you take her in so,look after her.
@Mark Plunkett: you’re like the peasants from the quiet man…the village lowest, calling to tar and feather the fallen woman, finally, someone lower than you in town. And your numbers are legion, which is quite depressing.
@Green Lentils: she is a terrorist, fallen woman does not quite describe her..
@Green Lentils: you are very very strange…
@Green Lentils: keep smoking the green lentils,you are delusional.
If ISIS was not defeated over there, she wouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave.
So they are working on bringing her back. She will be on with Daithi and Maura next week. Tubs Friday week.
I suppose the government gulfstream will be sent to collect her. It wouldn’t actually surprise me.
@Dexter: Keep up. The Gulfstream is gone years!
@Bo bo: yep… that’s why there is global warming …
This lady knowingly married a man that was a terrorist, by her own choice and went to live in Syria to support him ,is she not a part of it then ?She should be prosecuted by law then at home?
She picked her side and they lost now she had to live with the consequences, she didn’t want to be Irish when she went to the ISIS caliphate. But now that they lost she wants to be Irish again, She can rot in the hell she made.
She made her own there. 2 options, stay there or made your own way back. Preferably the 1st option
Personally I don’t think she should be allowed home. Certain rights should be wavered if you are intent on the destruction of the western world. She has shown no remorse for her actions and it’s the naive liberals who’ll blame this on brainwashing. This woman wasn’t some child – she knew well what she was getting into. I don’t believe she should be allowed return. Why take the risk?
We need to make a stand like the UK did and not allow this woman back. Anyone who leaves Ireland to go fight with terrorists should automatically lose their citizenship.
Well if it’s no worse than prison in Ireland, stay there .
Did she not state in her original interview that she was British..?
No thanks u are home in Syria
Think Simon Coveney should read the comments on this thread. Then he might stop sounding so sorrowful for this terrorism-supporting lady. Vast majority of comments reflect a fair and common sense view. She made her bed;!she knew what atrocities ISIS was doing. She was a bright woman. Leave her where she is.
The EU should fund the incarceration in Syria , end of , stay in your caliphate.
No body wants to bring the murder and mayhem back here , They despise the west , leave them to rot where they are.
Is coveney crazy
@Tom Duff:
He’s just busy being politically correct having already of course consulted his government’s overpaid spin doctors.
In Germany she could expect up to 10 years in jail for being part of a terrorist organization
Yes, she made a terrible decision but remember the context : since 2011 the media in Ireland has been stoking up the campaign for regime change in Syria and encouraging young people to join the campaign against the Assad government . Remember also how the media here supported the demands for regime change in Libya the year before the Syrian conflict started and remember how it hailed that war’s returning “freedom fighter” as heroes ; remember how the leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) – an Al-Qaida affiliate – were invited on to the Late Late Show before they headed out for Syria . A woman joins what she sees as the most militant and effective al Qaida faction engaged in “fighting Assad” and the same media wrings its hands and asks what can be done with her . It’s because the Irish media wants people to forget how it helped incite the crimes committed against Syria .
@Micheal de Burca: She went to Syria in 2015
Certainly the religion to be in if you want to swap partners. They seem to leave one relationship and remarry at will . How many wives can these fighters have and if you throw in the concubines and sex slaves , it’s a wonder they have the energy to fight
I would assume they intend to bring her up in court over there and possibly prison. Or do they just want rid of the ones who have citizenship somewhere else? Do we have any laws on the books providing aid and support to terrorist organisations operating on foreign soil? If so and they are not putting her on trial and just releasing her in Syria/Kurdish territories we should bring her home to see justice served.
Hopefully she will come home and receive whatever amount of assistance at whatever the cost that she needs and is given a nice house to live in at any town or city in Ireland she chooses herself….
@popeye Doyle:
0/10 for trolling – waaaayyyyy too obvious…
In fairness, you can’t leave her there – she’ll be stateless which I believe is illegal under some UN mandate. Bring her home, see what the extent of her involvement was, meet out punishment as necessary. Rights and Justice served in equal measure
@Billy Cussen:
We don’t have to go out of our way to bring her back though.
@Billy Cussen: fair comment.
Those who were born and reared in Ireland are Irelands problem now, bring her back and have her tried for terrorism, those who stopped over using the country for a passport should have it revoked without delay.
@MickN: Absolutely, her parents and family are here. There should be consequences but people seem to forget all the meddling in the Middle East is hugely responsible for the whole mess. Also there seems to be a blind eye turned to the reality of “certain culture” amongst the chattering classes so little wonder people are lured into the unknown.
Id say shes great at the oul “Blow up Jobs” keep away
Do we not jail people here for being in the IRA? What’s the difference? Is she not a terrorist? Leave her rot over there, Leo should ASK the people of Ireland and not assume he knows what we think.
She made a mistake. If we don’t talk to the enemy we don’t progress. Northern
Ireland, didn’t talk, violence. Then they talked then no violence.
@Padraig Salah: that turned out well. Seems to be the DUP calling the shots again
@Padraig Salah: okay then take her into your home p.
@Padraig Salah: This was no mistake, she joined this bunch of murdering barbarians willingly and only wants out now because it all went pear shaped.
Also, how can you have dialogue with an enemy that burns captives alive and films it for posterity. Such people are way beyond reasoning with.
@Sean Beinead: and talk away
CNN George soro’s fundad CNN Fake news Eu suppressing lreland again
Sure just let her come to our country not her home she chose to go she wasnt made go while she is here give her a house,money whatever she wants because this country gives to the wrong people..
She is a serious terrorist threat and should be arrested and thrown into prison for the rest of her life, the cheek of her wanting to come home.
The government would be better off spending the money on homeless or health and leave her where she is
Amazing how they all want to come back home now that ISIS is after losing the war. I wonder if they would be so quick to return if they had won though? Hmm…..
Please don’t spend my taxes in bringing that tramp back to a cosy social house.
@Ros Aodha: Had ISIS prevailed you would never have heard of this woman .
Take her back with restrictions and Deport € € € Delaney € € €
The simple fact is, if she is released by the US, she has every legal right to return to Ireland. Nothing the Irish Government can do. If even they have evidence that she’s a member of ISIS, all they can do is charge her for that upon her return. Being a member of Ismalic State isn’t a crime.
@Jim Buckley Barrett:
She isn’t being held by the US.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: ISIL is classed as a terrorist organisation by the EU and therefore by ourselves. This means we can use our own legislation to charge this woman with membership of a terrorist organisation.
@Will: That’s fine – but that still means she has to return to be charged. At the end of the date, the government can’t stop her returning.
She should be sent to Assad’s government who have the right to prosecute her. She’ll get a lengthy sentence there, over here she’ll get a council house, medical card and every hand out possible. Remember hundreds of Yazidi & Christian sex slaves were liberated from Baghouz. Lisa Smith, Shaimima Begum at al, they knew. And abetted it. They were there. Don’t let them off the hook.
We are being ruled by idiots! Coveney, let her stay with your family if you want her back! She is a traitor to Ireland and should be left to rot where she is!
Absolutely find a way to bring her home. I suggest in HANDCUFFS
Send Lord Ross over for her!
@John Mc Donagh: then she would choose to stay there!
@John Mc Donagh: hahaha surely a worse act of terrorism
Mr coveny do not bring her back to Ireland she made her bed now let her lie on it she made her own decisions
Wow, that’s crazy, probably send the gov jet to pick the terrorist up too.
Why should she be ‘brought home’? She should be tried and complete any punishment in Syria first. Her child should be brought back for humanitarian reasons.
Only in Ireland… She should be left there.
I believe she is an Irish problem and revoking her citizenship would set a dangerous precedent, however it would also be difficult to formally charge her with anything when she should rot in jail for life when she get’s home.
I was watching an interview with her today and she seemed genuinely shocked at the prospect that she may face jail time if she returns home.
That surprised me, the level of not entitlement exactly, but how dismissive she was, she genuinely thinks that the worst things she should and would face should she return to Ireland is a slap on the wrist and travel restriction which sadly is probably the case, especially after all of the cruelty and horror that ISIS are responsible for.
leave her where she is
this is the problem when we let in foreigners we lose our own people and religion and race
She should be treated the same as an ex-Irish male soldier who went to the ME to support ISIS. This case is significantly different to the misguided British teenagers who
joined ISIS and now want to return and mea-culpa & 3 Hail Mary’s is simply not good enough.
FG falling over themselves to be get on the next ‘liberal’ issue which will play well in D4
If she had gone Christian fundamental and gone off to join a crusade we wouldn’t hear much about her.
leave her where she is who cares not me
Well she was not in that country for Ireland-She an assistant of a T…..
Stay where you are.
€uck her leave her where she is
If she gets back here with no reprocusions, I demand that all political prisoners of both sides of the northern conflict are released immediately!
A plane would be the quickest and easiest way.
She and Sinead O’Connor should shack up! They would make a perfect team.
Leo and Simon are on a wind up. Having a laugh.
There’s loads of room up the north with all the other fanatics ….
She should be left rot over there..
….. What also weighs the same as wood…….. A duck….. Therefore if she weighs the same as a duck she must be a witch!!!!! Burn her…..
As if Ireland hasnt enough trouble without trucking more in. Will the luvvies and snowflakes take the responsibility when the shite hits the ventilator
have your say