Mr. Ronnie Downes:

As I mentioned to Deputy Carthy earlier, a fairly straightforward set of scenarios would present themselves. We are at a very early stage of consideration on the process that will take place, its outworking at the European Union and how that is likely to develop. It is possible that we will continue with the EU-Israel association agreement as it is. I mentioned to one of the committee members earlier that our assessment at the moment is that it will require unanimity, unless we hear differently from the legal services at European level, to suspend or vary that EU-Israel association agreement. Alternatively, the association agreement will be suspended in whole or in part. The degree to which it is suspended in whole or in part would have a bearing upon that relatively small component of Ireland's overall global trade. In that context, we are not talking about imposing sanctions on Israel. Again, trade sanctions would have to be unanimously agreed across the EU and that is not seriously in prospect from what we can see. We would be talking about moving from a preferential tariff regime to a somewhat less preferential WTO-style tariff regime, which is the basis on which we operate with a lot of countries around the world. We are not talking about a precipitative or disastrous cut-off; we are talking about asking the European Commission to consider what the implications or criteria would be to put in place a review that would inform a Council discussion. Against that background, our Department will not be found wanting when it comes to doing analysis that is requisite and timely.