Photo: ITV
By Vivienne Clarke
Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick has said that Dundalk woman Lisa Smith is “willing to talk to anyone to clear her name” and is eager to come home to Ireland.
Speaking on local radio station LmFm, the Fine Gael TD said he was doing so at the request of Ms Smith’s family.
The family believes she is innocent of all charges and they are prepared to care for her daughter if she is detained on her return to Ireland, he said.
Irish officials have been in discussion with Turkish authorities after it was announced on Monday that two Irish citizens, along with dozens of others, were to be deported.
Lisa Smith converted to Islam and left Ireland to travel to Syria in 2015 following the break-up of her first marriage.
Mr Fitzpatrick told LmFm that Ms Smith has remarried again because a woman cannot live on her own “in that country.
“She has a baby daughter. In 2019 she was captured and detained by the US forces in Northern Syria, she has denied being a member of Isis, she says she’s not guilty, she says she never owned a gun, she wants to come home to her country, she wants to come home to Dundalk and she’s willing to testify, to talk to anyone to clear her name.”
