Irish politicians urge action over citizen’s high-security pro-Palestinian trial in Germany

A cross-party delegation of Irish politicians has called on Dublin to send official observers to the trial of the “Ulm 5” activists in Stuttgart and raise concerns over the severe detention conditions of Irish citizen Daniel Tatlow-Devally.

Tatlow-Devally, 32, was arrested alongside four other Berlin-based European activists in September after trespassing at an Ulm facility owned by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, where they destroyed equipment and smashed windows to protest German arms exports to Israel.

German prosecutors have charged the group with trespassing, property damage exceeding €1 million, and membership in a criminal organisation under Section 129 of the German criminal code.

The visiting delegation, including Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell and representatives from Fine Gael, Labour, People Before Profit–Solidarity, and the Social Democrats, voiced alarm over Tatlow-Devally being confined to a 5×2-metre cell for 23 hours a day with only one hour of monthly visitation. They also highlighted courtroom barriers, such as holding the defendants behind glass panels that restrict direct legal communication.

Farrell urged Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin to press German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on human rights and legal access concerns during his upcoming visit to Dublin.