Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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If Mr. O'Brien obtains the relevant information, he can send it to the committee secretariat and it will be disseminated to members.

I wish to inform the committee that I attended the EU Presidency meeting which took place in Cyprus last week. Ms Catherine Ashton, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was asked a similar question in respect of the settlements. She indicated that she was very disappointed with the continued extension of the settlement programme and with the lack of progress in this area. She is extremely concerned about the fact that settlements continue to be built and indicated that there does not appear to be any willingness to change the existing policy. This is an issue that we will pursue at EU level. It will remain at the top of our agenda, not just during this session but also during 2013.

I thank Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Sheerin and Mr. Heap for coming before the committee and outlining their experiences of and offering their ideas on what is happening in Palestine at present. This has been a very useful discussion. It is important for the committee to be informed about the human consequences of what is taking place and also about the political stalemate that is impeding progress towards a solution. If this were a simple matter, a solution would have been found long ago. It is, however, an extremely complex and difficult one with which to grapple. There must be political will to make progress. In that context, economic pressure is required in order to encourage a more constructive approach on the part of the Israeli Government. The EU - in the form of its External Action Service - has become far more active in respect of the Middle East peace process than was the case in the past and we are now in a position to help to move matters forward. The committee will continue to monitor the situation and will have the opportunity to review developments at EU level when the Minister comes before us to discuss the work of the Foreign Affairs Council later in the year. I again thank our guests for attending and I invite them to keep us updated on developments. We will now go into private session.