Mr. Garry Walsh:

I wish to respond to some of the questions and comments on Ireland's role and the European Union's role in leverage regarding trade. There was a question regarding settlement products and the labelling of settlement products. In the EU the only states thus far that have introduced guidelines or regulations on the labelling of settlement produce are the United Kingdom and Denmark. There is momentum at EU level to introduce EU-wide guidelines on labelling. The EU High Representative, Ms Mogherini, has made some positive statements recently in that regard. There are hopes that perhaps before the end of the year we might even have movement on that issue.

The Trócaire position is that we are hearing about grave violations of human rights. Mr. Sourani has eloquently put the case to the committee. Matters of grave violations of human rights are not matters of consumer choice. We need a far stronger response from the European Union and the international community. We maintain that a ban on trade with the Israeli settlements is necessary. To its credit, Ireland is the only EU member state that has publicly supported such a ban. Labelling is an important first step but the EU should move towards banning settlement products.

Senator Norris mentioned the issue of the EU-Israel Association Agreement which regulates trade between the EU and Israel. He referred to Article 2 which holds that the agreement is based on human rights. However, there are no adequate mechanisms to monitor it. The agreement is conditional on human rights but it is not monitored. There is a sub-committee involving the EU and Israel on human rights but it is not effective. The matter needs to be brought up at EU Foreign Affairs Council level. It must be raised at political level. We maintain that Ireland should raise the matter at that level.