Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim céad míle fáilte roimh Mr. Lambrinidis and his colleagues. Is the role of the EU Special Representative a fine balancing act between current human rights abuses and past human rights abuses? Yesterday we heard the awful word "renditions". A report suggested that some of the rendition flights went through Ireland and other countries in Europe. There must be a balance between what we are saying internationally and what we are doing locally. For the countries affected it undermines our moral voice if we allow that to happen. How important is it to look back on issues such as that which may have been a policy of the past? This committee adopted a very strong position on the illegal settlements and recommended a ban on illegal goods in the Israeli-Palestine situation. Is that helpful? We encouraged our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to raise the issue during the Irish Presidency of the European Union.

Clearly something needs to be done in this area. In the past two months there have been 10,000 more new settlements and the problem is getting worse. The chances of a two state solution is being undermined by the illegal settlements yet at the same time there is a special agreement with the Israeli Government. On the one hand we say this is wrong but when it comes to trade and other issues we appear to have a different view. One could look at other parts of the world where the European Union has a special trade agreement. The witness mentioned countries in transition. Recently the Columbian ambassador appeared before the committee and mentioned many positive things on the issue. There are difficulties in that part of the world for human rights defenders, trade unionists and so on. There is also the issue of using trade as a lever for positive change. Which should come first, jobs at home or what is happening abroad? I would like to hear the view of Mr. Lambrinidis on the matter without focusing on a specific country. Certainly, in the Middle East one is talking about the powerful and the powerless. In the Palestinian situation there is no balance and the Americans are not getting involved. The other power broker is ourselves, the European Union. I would like to hear his views on the importance of stepping up to the plate on that issue.