Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire. I will outline what I believe the European position is. I am conscious we are all against the clock, and I do not want to take Deputy Ó Laoghaire's time, but I want to answer the question. I would put very differently what the European Union decided yesterday. The European Union found yesterday that Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations. It is now up to the country that is in breach of its human rights obligations to stop being in breach of them or for the European Union to come forward with concrete actions it will take. We have a very clear view of what they are, which is why we signed the letter with nine other member states. It is also why we brought forward draft legislation today. Do I believe Israel is weaponising aid? Yes, I do. I will say that while there are differing views around the Foreign Affairs Council table, I was struck yesterday by how almost every country spoke about the disaster that is humanitarian aid. In my view, Israel is absolutely weaponising aid and it is an utterly inappropriate way to be distributing aid. Even if it proved to be semi-effective, which of course it has not been, you cannot go about the distribution of aid in the way that Israel is.

With regard to debt, Deputy Ó Laoghaire is right that it is coming up more and more because the increasing cost of servicing the debt is constraining even further any available physical space in a developing country. This is then having a knock-on effect in terms of reductions in expenditure on key areas such as health, education and social protection. We would like to see them being able to invest in these. The development default will worsen poverty and inequality and disproportionately impact the furthest behind. The global debt architecture needs to further evolve. We need to look at things such as predictable and fair debt restructuring and debt relief for countries. This pathway should build on the debt resolution tools we already have and recognise existing mandates. We are very open to playing a constructive role in this.

On the issue of dual use, the Department of enterprise is the competent national authority for this but my Department does provide policy observations on export licence applications at the request of that Department. In making these observations the Department assesses each application against the eight assessment criteria of the EU. Ireland remains committed to the multilateral export control framework and we continue to advocate for the efficient and effective functioning of the regimes. I will take a particular look at the concerns expressed by the Ukrainian Embassy, particularly given the fact we will have further sanctions packages coming forward. I will be back in touch with the Ukrainian Embassy after I have assessed its concerns.