Mr. Tony Murphy:

The first one involved 36 milestones and five targets. Again, it is about things like jobs and skills, a programme for bringing skills, the capacity of technological universities, digital transition through the digitalisation of public administration and the connection of schools to the broadband network, as well as preparation for and starting work. There can be stages along the way. Other ones include the rehabilitation of peatlands, the electrification of public transport in Cork, which I mentioned already, investments in the energy efficiency of public buildings and the upgrade of wastewater treatment plants. That is, generally speaking, what these milestones and targets relate to and on this basis, if the Commission assesses that they have been satisfactorily fulfilled, they will get the €324 million in due course. That is on the RRF.

We touched on the situation in the Middle East earlier. We audit the money, basically. We explained that we have audited a number of transactions in Palestine over the past five years. We have audited roughly 15 and have given the example of an error where the money is somewhere out there but no one knows where exactly. It is an error and a particular example of one that is included in our annual report. In terms of trade deals, again if there is money directly linked we will follow the money but in terms of managing things, we are not involved. We will check how the Commission manages. I have to say that this was not on the radar of anybody a few weeks ago. All of a sudden, however, it has almost replaced Ukraine as the topic we are asked about the most. We already have our plan for 2024 which will be published in the next couple of weeks. We have devised that based on the priorities that we identified at the time but that does not mean that if something comes up, we cannot change or adjust our plan. The particular issue the Deputy mentioned would not feature in our overall plan, although it is extremely important politically and extremely sensitive.