SHE’S MADE headlines as ‘Ireland’s ISIS bride’, but Lisa Smith’s family believe an interview on the Late Late Show will help her return to Ireland go as smoothly as possible.
Smith served as a member of the Irish Defence Forces before converting to Islam and travelling to Syria in 2015.
The 37-year-old from Dundalk, Co. Louth, is now set to return to Ireland with her young child after admitting she “made a mistake” in moving to Syria.
Smith has been living as a widow in a camp out in warn-torn Baghouz with her child, but politicians behind the scenes in Ireland are working to bring them home.
In the meantime, The Irish Sun is reporting that Smith’s family are lining up an interview on RTE’s Late Late Show, on the proviso that it take place on a closed set.
According to the newspaper, her family are hopeful that the interview will help “smooth things out” upon her return to the country.
RTE has yet to issue a formal statement on the matter but an insider told The Irish Sun: “Lisa Smith has a lot of explaining to do to the Irish people if she wishes to come back home.”
The Late Late Show made headlines back in November 2017 after securing an interview with Ibrahim Halawa – the Dublin born man who spent 1,497 days in an Egyptian prison.
Halawa was arrested in Cairo in August 2013 during the Muslim Brotherhood's so-called Day of. He was eventually cleared of all charges.
He later described the Late Late Show interview as the “biggest mistake” of his life.
“The biggest mistake of my life was sitting on that couch, twenty minutes on that couch could never justify four years of torment,” he said.
