Roscommon woman Tori Towey has arrived back in Ireland after a travel ban imposed on her by authorities in Dubai was lifted yesterday.
The 28-year-old Roscommon woman was met at Dublin Airport by awaiting journalists after exiting arrivals.
Tori Towey at Dublin Airport with her mother Caroline and Aunt Ann. She has thanked all those who campaigned for her return.
“I'm just so relieved. I just I can't believe it,” she said adding that not everyone gets the support she received from their government @rtenews pic.twitter.com/S5LpZSpoOP— Eleanor Burnhill (@ElMcM) July 11, 2024
Speaking at the airport Towey, said “I’m just so relieved, I just I can’t believe it,”
“I’m just so thankful and grateful to be back. Obviously when my mother came out to me it was a massive help, but it was just the unknown and just not knowing anything, not knowing what’s going to happen.”
When asked if she had feared not being able to return home she said, “Of course, I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“It’s only kind of between yesterday and today that I kind of got clarity. I wasn’t getting any answers, but I’m just glad to be back.”
Thanking various political figures including the Taoiseach, and the media for their assistance, Towey said Ireland is “an amazing country”, adding that she felt “bad for people who don’t have the support we have,”.
As Gript previously reported, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described Towey as a victim of “gross domestic violence”.
Earlier this week McDonald addressed Dáil Eireann saying, “Her passport has been destroyed, her passport has been destroyed, there was a travel ban imposed on her.”
McDonald called on Taoiseach Simon Harris to intervene “immediately” and to make contact with the Ambassador of Dubai in Ireland calling the situation “an emergency”.
“She had gone to the authorities seeking protection many times but to absolutely no avail.”
“But following one particularly severe beating in which her husband repeatedly tried to slam doors on her arms and break her limbs, she escaped upstairs and she attempted to take her own life.”
“Unfortunately, Tori now faces charges in Dubai of attempted suicide and the abuse of alcohol, the system over there rather than protecting this woman who is an Irish citizen, chose instead to detain her to charge her. She’s now under the most incredible stress when I spoke to her this afternoon,”.
The advocacy group Detained in Dubai claims that Towey attempted to obtain a new passport after her original one was destroyed and in the process became aware that a travel ban had been put on her by Dubai authorities.
“Tori wants to come home, simple as that. She is a Roscommon woman and she wants to come home,” she said.
“I am asking now, as a matter of absolute urgency, that we have a statement from this House, that you intervene Taoiseach, that the ambassador is called and that it is made absolutely plain to the authorities of Dubai that no woman should be treated in this way, and an Irish citizen, an Irish woman will not be treated in this way.” McDonald said.
She added that Towey had been a victim “of the most gross domestic violence”.
“Her passport has been destroyed and a travel ban was imposed on her. She had gone to the authorities seeking protection many times but to absolutely no avail.”
Ms McDonald said that “following one particularly severe beating in which her husband repeatedly tried to slam doors on her arms and break her limbs, she escaped upstairs and attempted to take her own life”.
Gript contacted the embassy of Dubai in relation to the case of Ms, Towey advising them of our deadline, however we are yet to receive a response.