Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I have an appointment at 3 p.m. but I hope to return to the meeting. I cannot miss the opportunity to mention the fact that two of the MEPs are based in Dublin South-West and I wish them both well. Both MEPs know of the difficulties in the area, with high unemployment, in particular youth unemployment. People will expect them to deliver and come up with the goods and some ideas. Both MEPs have a huge responsibility in regard to this project. We all know of the disconnect. I agree with the Chairman in regard to the structures for meeting MEPs. Let us be honest in that it did not really work with the previous group of MEPs but I hope we can improve that. We need to look at different ways in which we can tie MEPs into this committee, whether through their attendance here, video-conferencing or otherwise. I agree with the point about MEPs working together. That is a given. MEPs on this end of the island and in the North should also work together. We come from the same island and many of the problems are the same.

Mr. Hayes did not mention that he was a member of the delegation to Iraq. I would like him to go into detail on that. It is a huge area of responsibility and people are looking for answers in that regard as well as on the bombing of ISIS locations and so on. We all accept there is a huge difficulty there among the Sunni population. Promises were made to many of the groups in that area which were not followed through by the Iraqi authorities or by the Americans. That is part of the disconnect there. I would like to hear Mr. Hayes's ideas on what he can do there.

In regard the Palestinian situation, will Ms Boylan explain to us what reasons were given for turning a delegation away? There is talk of another group from Europe trying to get into Palestine through a different route. What we saw on television horrified most people. The calls from that region are for more European intervention. They are clearly looking for the European Union and European governments to play a much more proactive role in that whole region. Does Ms Boylan have any ideas in that regard?

Some people are talking about a boycott of goods from the settlements. That is not coming from governments but from grassroots organisations and it could be effective. There was announcement the other day of more settlements going ahead in east Jerusalem and the worry is that it is more difficult to come up with a solution to the problem if there are more of these settlements, which are illegal under international law. If we allow this to go ahead, how can any Israeli Government come up with a solution which will mean removing all these people from their land? That, in itself, creates difficulties.

I am interested in Gaza, in particular, given what we have seen on television. The expression used by the Israeli army was "mowing the grass". There have been different campaigns of mowing the grass.

Are the witnesses concerned, like everyone else to whom I speak to on this, about what will arise following this latest conflict? As a country that has come out of conflict, are there lessons we can offer, not only in Palestine but in other regions around the world? I am thinking in terms of the situation in Iraq.