Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I thank Mr. Whyte for being here. As others have said, thanks are due to his team and to all of UNRWA's individual workers. The conditions they are working in are shocking. A lot of issues have already been covered so I will make a brief comment and then ask a question. As Mr. Whyte said himself, there are no words to describe this. It is beyond anything acceptable in terms of the human condition or in terms of any moral compass. It is just wrong. It is abominable. It is a horror and that goes without saying.

I take the point about the relatively universal recognition of Palestine probably upping the ante a bit, given how the reaction will make things difficult.

All aspects have been pretty well covered. It occurs to me that those who physically survive this hunger and so on will suffer long-term damage. Youngsters will suffer long-term damage in terms of development and I presume adults' lives will be greatly shrunken. There are many other aspects with various conditions such as rickets. There are not just those who tragically, wrongly and disgracefully will die. There are a whole lot of youngsters whose intellectual and physical development will be stunted for the future. It is also a number of adults whose normal life spans will be thwarted even if they are not immediate casualties.

This is slightly out of Mr. Whyte's remit but I would be interested in his view. If a sensitive and intelligent young person of 15 or 16 years of age sees his or her family wiped out, sees starvation around and is a victim, I think we are creating a new generation of suicide bombers. I know it is a very strong thing to say and a bit melodramatic but I am afraid that is the case. Does Mr. Whyte sense a radicalisation? I know the poor things are too oppressed at the minute but, ultimately, does he see a danger there? I would like his first two replies to look at the long-term effect on youngsters and adults.