Mr. Feilim McLaughlin:

As my colleague has just set out, Ireland’s overall policy aim is to assist in securing a lasting and just political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to support the negotiation of a two-state solution with an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours. Ireland has had a long-standing commitment to this objective.

Ireland was the first European Economic Community - as it was - member state to adopt support for the two-state solution as official policy back in February 1980. Our development co-operation support to the Palestinian people flows from this policy and aims to contribute to maintaining the space for a two-state solution. This work, which is part of the Irish Aid programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, focuses on: supporting state-building efforts; the provision of humanitarian relief; the protection and promotion of human rights; and support for Palestine refugees. Building the capacity of Palestinian governance institutions and civil society is an important underlying theme of our approach.

The Irish Aid Palestine programme has been in existence for just over two decades, since 2000. This year, Irish Aid plans to invest almost €16 million in the occupied Palestinian territory. We, and Ireland’s representative office in Ramallah, co-operate with the United Nations, other multilateral partners, civil society organisations, humanitarian agencies and the Palestinian Authority in delivering the programme. Overall, the EU and its member states are consistently the largest donors to the Palestinian people, with total funding estimated at over €600 million per annum in recent years.

In the area of state building, Ireland's particular focus is on strengthening the quality of education which will be essential to the long-term prosperity of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority's ministry of education has a particularly important function in what is a very young society, where nearly 40% of the population is under the age of 14. The ministry aims to provide comprehensive and safe access to quality education across the occupied territory. Our view is that a robust and effective ministry can help to foster social unity across the Palestinian territory and is indispensable in raising the skills and knowledge base of the Palestinian people. Education also serves an important function in promoting critical thinking and enhancing job opportunities.

Ireland's aim is to build the capacity of Palestinian educational institutions and by extension, to empower the Palestinian population. Our main vehicle for doing this is what is known as a joint financing arrangement. This is, essentially, where we and a number of other countries pool our support to the Palestinian education ministry. We support the ministry in areas such as curriculum development and educational reform. Ireland spends €3 million a year through this mechanism.

We also have a scholarship scheme for Palestinian students through which we bring promising individuals to Ireland to study for a masters degree. The aim is to build the capacity of Palestinian society by giving individuals the knowledge and experience that they need to make a positive contribution in the future. We presently award 25 of these Ireland fellowships per year.

The promotion and protection of human rights in the Palestinian territory is a fundamental pillar of our work. We recognise the indispensable role of civil society in promoting and protecting human rights and the rule of law. Respect for human rights, accountability and transparency facilitate peace and stability and contribute to better governance. Our human rights and democratisation schemes support both Israeli and Palestinian NGOs in five priority areas, namely, freedom of movement, rule of law, rights of prisoners and detainees, women's rights and democratic development. Our representative office works with partner bodies and has developed strong relationships with them over the years. Our total funding in this area for 2021 will be €750,000.

Of course, as the committee has just heard from representatives of the West Bank Protection Consortium, the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, DG ECHO, which is the branch of the European Commission responsible for humanitarian aid, as well as a number of other states are members of and donors to the consortium. We have supported it since 2017 in its work to protect vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. As the committee has heard, the consortium provides material and humanitarian assistance in legal aid. Our budgetary contribution to the consortium in 2021 is €200,000.

Another pillar of our approach is our support to Palestine refugees through the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which provides education, healthcare and humanitarian relief to Palestine refugees. There are approximately 5.7 million registered refugees living in the occupied Palestinian territory and in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The Minister for Foreign Affairs signed a three-year partnership agreement with UNRWA in March 2021. Under the terms of that agreement, we will provide UNRWA with €6 million per year in core funding to the end of 2023. We also provide annual funding to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA. We have provided €500,000 in 2021. That includes €300,000 to a humanitarian fund, which can be drawn on by the humanitarian co-ordinator to respond to humanitarian emergencies.

I will turn to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. As with all of our developing country partners wherever they are in the world, the main issue around vaccination in the occupied territory is the global shortage of vaccine supply. As members will be aware, Ireland is supporting the COVAX initiative, which aims to deliver 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to 92 low and middle-income countries, including the Palestinian territories, by the end of 2021. COVAX has also negotiated options on a further 1 billion doses. In March, the EU announced it would double its funding to COVAX from €500 million to €1 billion. When taken with the commitments of individual member states, this brings the entire EU pledge to COVAX to €2.5 billion. In February, COVAX confirmed that the occupied Palestinian territory was a priority participant in its programme. The first COVAX shipment, containing 61,440 doses, was received in the Palestinian territories in March 2021. COVAX deliveries to the occupied territory in the first and second quarters of the year are projected at 308,000 doses. According to World Health Organization figures from this week, a total of 416,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territory have been vaccinated with supplies from COVAX and other sources.

In addition to our COVAX support, we have provided additional resources to organisations working in the occupied Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the pandemic. They include UNRWA, the UN humanitarian fund, the World Bank and Oxfam. We have also provided funds via an EU mechanism known as PEGASE, which gives direct support to Palestinian citizens.

Ireland’s support to the Palestinian people through the Irish Aid programme has a number of aims. They are to help maintain the space for a two-state solution, to build the capacity of the Palestinian people through the provision of quality education, to contribute to ensuring that human rights and accountability are upheld, that humanitarian relief is provided to those who need it and that the needs of Palestine refugees are met.