Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments and raising this important issue. To give background, in 2023, as a result of the conflict in Gaza, we provided €36 million in total assistance to Palestinian people, which is our highest figure ever. This includes our contribution to UNRWA, which had originally been set at €6 million. That was kind of the norm. It was €6 million in 2023, which was then increased by €2 million during the year. It was increased by a further €10 million in response to the conflict, which made it €18 million and our highest ever contribution to UNRWA. As the Deputy said, we have not suspended our funding to UNRWA, in common with Norway, Portugal, Spain and others. We will need to review our contribution in 2024, which originally would have been set at approximately €8 million. That was upping the regular €6 million. The countries that have suspended or have indicated a review are responsible for 70% of UNRWA support, so this is very serious. We also give €3.5 million to institutional building in Palestine, mainly to the ministry of education. I visited some of the schools in my last visit to the West Bank. We also give funding to human rights organisations in Palestine and Israel and for humanitarian assistance. Under Irish Aid's fellowship programme, we provide 22 scholarships for Palestinians to study at Irish third-level institutions, with 11 students from the West Bank and 11 from Gaza. We anticipate the same number, if not more, for students from Gaza, if we can get them out, and the West Bank this year.

The Secretary-General of the UN convened a meeting during the week of major donors that contributed more than €2 million. We were at that meeting and we gave our rationale. The US, the UK and all the countries the Deputy mentioned were at the meeting. The Secretary-General highlighted Ireland’s intervention and thanked our permanent representative at the UN for it. It is critical that we engage with the others and we did so at that meeting. I will engage directly with some of these countries. I will go to the US next week, so I will make the case with those I am meeting on the Hill and hopefully with other interlocutors I will be engaging with. At the European Union we are equally talking to like-minded states. Portugal, Spain and others are like-minded. By coming out early, it was important for others to see that we were not budging.

I think the UNRWA leadership has handled it well and strongly in terms of ordering an independent review and suspending the personnel involved. There has been a long-running situation in respect of UNRWA. In my view, Israel has always sought to undermine UNRWA as an organisation. It goes back to the Nakba. It is an historic organisation that was established specifically to support Palestinian refugees in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere. It is a huge organisation with 30,000 people employed. The Deputy said he had been to the West Bank. If you get rid of UNRWA, Hamas would take over. This is the kind of illogicality of what is being said. I remember being there in 2009 when an Irish former military member, John Ging, was in charge. He told me at the time that when he ran the summer school in Gaza, he was competing with Hamas summer schools. However, by a country mile, the UNRWA summer schools were far more popular. The mothers of Gaza spoke and voted with their feet by attending UNRWA summer schools. I went into UNRWA schools where the Holocaust was being taught. That was back in 2009. Now we are being told antisemitic material was being distributed. That was investigated by the European Commission following Commissioner Várhelyi’s concerns last year when he froze funding to UNRWA education. The allegations did not stand up and the funding flowed again.

The Deputy heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say he wants to get rid of UNRWA. I do not believe the military of Israel want UNRWA to go. I think they know deep down that the only operation in town, so to speak, that can provide the scale and volume of aid that the Palestinians require in health, education and food supplies is UNRWA. UNRWA has to be extraordinarily efficient, effective and disciplined and must have resolute mechanisms to make sure that none of its personnel are involved in terrorist activity or criminal activity because that damages the whole organisation. When something like that is found it, it undermines the situation.

UNRWA needs reform with regard to needing financial stability. I agree with that. We have offered our assistance to the commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, in respect of reforms he wants to introduce to make it more sustainable. This was before the war and the conflict. That is my position on that.