Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I do not understand where Deputy Allen is coming from. Ireland's position on this matter has been very even-handed, fair and open at Government level, ministerial level within the Council and official level through our ambassadors and official negotiators. We want to ensure that there is fairness and equity and that both sides recognise and have mutual respect for each other.

Through our work, we want to ensure that human rights, law and order and democracy prevail, that the Hamas Government is recognised and that it in turn commits itself to total peace. On this basis, the European Commission recommended, after the change of Government and Hamas's coming to power, that there be a suspension of funds until such time as Hamas recognises its responsibilities and commits itself to the peace process. This does not mean the funding has been terminated — it has been suspended.

If agreement is not reached, there could be a loss of €126 million this year. However, Ireland has been one of the top two champions of the Palestinian people, the two-State solution and the commitment to bring peace to the region. We have worked and continue to work to ensure the existence of a new international channel to allow the funds to be directed to those who need them, namely, the Palestinian people. We are working on this very hard.

The High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, is in negotiations with all the different parties on behalf of the European Union. We fully support him and have made our position quite clear. We will continue to support the Palestinian people and want to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to them as rapidly as possible.

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