Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Exactly. That is the message they wanted us to get out very strongly to the international community.

The issue of prisoners is an ongoing saga. I would have loved to have visited the prisons while I was there but, unfortunately, that was not possible. However, we did meet the Minister with responsibility for prisons and detainees in the Palestinian Authority and received a strong briefing regarding how the authority saw it. We did not, of course, meet anybody from Hamas in Gaza so we were unable to see what the situation there is like. There is major concern about administrative detention, children ending up in prison, forms of interrogation, torture and the length of time people are spending in prison. Effectively, internment is a major part of it. People are lifted and end up in prison and the process is very bureaucratic. There are military courts of course. The type of system we would envisage as a normal democratic western judicial and prison system is something they do not have in respect of Israeli jails.

We asked the Minister about jails in the West Bank that are controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately, the Minister with responsibility for prisoners and detainees is not responsible for those prisons and we had not realised that at the time because we were very anxious to get to see what those conditions are like. We would have looked for the other authority. I do not know the Minister responsible. It would be the Minister for justice. Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to meet that particular Minister. Many speakers spoke about it. They see the prison issue as part of the solution in the same way as it was part of the solution in Northern Ireland. The prisoners or activists were the thinkers who for one reason or another ended up behind bars but they were political people so, therefore, they would be part of the engagement that would bring about a solution.

The tunnel referred to by Deputy Durkan is the most recent tunnel discovered by the Israelis. There were a variety of tunnels. We do not know what the intention behind that tunnel was. It was a tunnel from Gaza that was about 1 km long. There were rumours that it was intended for use in abducting Israeli soldiers but we do not know for certain what the situation was. Clearly, it has given rise to concern from the Israeli side.