Mr. Feilim McLaughlin:

As the Chair noted, there is significant ground to cover but I would be happy to deal in writing with anything to which I do not reply satisfactorily. On the point on the compensation claim, as the committee's previous witnesses put it, this is not something which goes before a court. It is something we collectively do with other donors and we raise it with the Israeli authorities and have done so on a regular basis at ambassadorial level and the Minister for Foreign Affairs has raised it with his counterparts as well. We will continue to do so. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has also raised it regularly at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, in order to build coalitions across member states.

There was a question on the scholarship programme, the Ireland Fellows programme, and the range of masters programmes. It is across a wide range of disciplines. The programme is only its second year and a third intake is due to begin, all going well, later in 2021. We have people from a medical background and people who are working in areas related to engineering, for example, so it is a wide range of disciplines. The aim is to try to identify people who have the potential to make a difference in Palestinian society into the future and to give them the skill sets they need to be able to do that.

As for what it looks like, it looks like improved education in schools run by the Palestinian authorities, which is a primary outcome we want to see and one towards which we have been working for many years, with a better curriculum and better opportunities for children who are going through the Palestinian Authority schools. It also looks like the services that UNRWA provides to refugees on a daily basis. There are millions of refugees in the occupied territories and within the region more broadly. UNRWA provides them with education, healthcare and, in many cases, shelter. It also looks like the humanitarian aid being provided in Gaza and elsewhere at present, in terms of provision of emergency shelters, emergency water and sanitation and equipment. It looks like the legal aid the West Bank consortium is giving people to take legal cases on forced evictions.

With respect to Senator Craughwell's point on the long-term objectives of the programme and the need to focus on those, that is at the heart of what we do. That is why we focus on things such as the improvement of education. That has the potential to empower future generations of people and that is a lasting legacy. That cannot be demolished overnight. Our focus is on capacity building, education, ensuring people's human rights are observed and they have legal aid to take legal action when necessary. All of that longer-term strategic work is at the centre of what we do, so I take the Senator's point on that.

I will pass the floor to Ms Moran now.