Mr. Colm O'Gorman:

I thank the committee members for their questions. In a moment I will defer to our colleague, Mr. Higazi, who is on the line from South Africa, to speak specifically to questions around how the research was carried out and where but also to add his perspective to some of the nuance of the other questions that have been asked. I will answer some of the finance and other questions in some detail and then hand over to Mr. Higazi.

I will begin with Senator O'Reilly's comments because they allow me to deal with some of the questions from Deputy Brady as well. Then I will move on to Deputy Gannon's questions. It is heartening to hear Senator O'Reilly's view that there is nothing in this report with which members of this committee, or indeed the Irish Government, might take exception. That is incredibly important because the first thing, and this goes to one of Deputy Brady's questions, that all states should do, including Ireland, is acknowledge the simple, established fact that Israel is perpetrating the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians and against the Palestinian populations wherever it exerts control over those populations. That is critically important. We must be able to name honestly what is happening and then work to hold to account those who are responsible for such crimes.

The committee heard what we said earlier about applying all possible influence and pressure on Israel to ensure it dismantles this system. The simple reality, which we must begin to acknowledge, is that under the cover of political process and the pursuit of a peace process that seems to deliver for everybody but the Palestinians, Israel continues to build and develop further this system of apartheid, oppression and control of the Palestinian population. The approach the international community is adopting at the moment is not in any way addressing the grave crimes that continue to be perpetrated by Israel. Indeed, it is allowing Israel to advance and even increase the egregious nature of those crimes. There must be a fundamental rethink and shift in approach on the part of the international community. Any state that wants to maintain moral authority and to advance the cause of peace, security and human rights must stand for the rule of law and must be prepared-----