Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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On three occasions when I have been in the Dáil Chamber - twice last Wednesday and at least once today - the Taoiseach referred to times when calls have been made for actions to be taken with sanctions or measures to be made in response to Israel in particular. In the context of dealing with this at an EU level the Taoiseach said:

...we have been far too keen to trade with Israel as a European Union without demanding that it respects human rights and enables the creation of a Palestinian state. We have been far too willing to aid Palestine - we are its biggest donor - and we have not assisted on human rights, democracy and the defeat of terrorism.

Immediately after the horrendous acts of Hamas on 7 October, we actually heard some other commentators, including a member of this committee, suggesting that a response might be to reduce or withdraw aid to Palestine. Will our guests outline what aid to Palestine in funding from Ireland and EU actually looks like in principle and whether reducing that aid as it is currently constituted would be an appropriate response by either Ireland or the EU? Will our guests also outline whether there is an equivalence, as the Taoiseach would suggest, in having a trading relationship with Israel that is worth billions of euro and results in tax moneys going straight to the Israeli state which is then used to fund the ongoing war that benefits companies, especially arms companies that are centrally involved in the ongoing bombardment of Gaza? Can this be compared to the aid that is going to Palestine and is there any suggestion that aid going to Palestine is actually being used to deny human rights or fund organisations like Hamas militarily?