Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I understand that IDA Ireland has hired a consultant to assist with its work in Israel. That is not a political decision. It is not one that crossed my desk or I signed off on. IDA Ireland has its own legal authority in these areas. It was done for good reasons because we have a significant trading relationship with Israel.

My general approach to these things is that we should continue to engage with states. Sometimes we have trade boycotts. However, as the Deputy knows himself, there are many states with which we could cut off links that people do not talk about enough. Israel tends to be the focus of campaigns for boycotts around trading links. There are many other countries, however, that have serious questions to answer such as Venezuela, Cuba and even some countries in eastern Europe. For reasons I do not understand, people seem to be silent about these.