Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. When the European Council met the Government had not been finally formed and ratified. Indeed, as we met, negotiations were still going on regarding the make-up of the Government and therefore any reference in the Council conclusions to it would have had to be on the basis of the position that existed at that time. Since that time the Government has been announced and Ireland has been at the forefront in giving that a positive welcome, but people must be conscious of the fact that members of that Government remain part of Hamas and still have as their charter the destruction of Israel. That is one of the reasons the international community must be extremely careful in the way it responds to this issue.

As we are aware from our experience and as used to be portrayed, we cannot have the ballot box in one hand and the Armalite in the other. If we transpose that to the Hamas situation, the international community has been very careful, not least in regard to the contact it has with that Government but also in the context of EU funds and our taxpayers' money in that we must be certain that the money being expended by the EU in Palestine is going to the people and not towards some of the aims of that organisation.

In principle we very much welcome the formation of the unity Government and the efforts by President Abbas. It is fair to say, however, there will be others who have a slightly different view, not just in the EU but also outside it. It is Ireland's job to convince the EU to use its good offices to support this effort by the Palestinians to gain some unity of purpose and allow them to negotiate with the rest of the world on a relatively equal basis, but we must take every day as it comes. Regarding contact with the Palestinian Government, Ireland would have no problem relating to the non-Hamas Ministers of that Government, including the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who are non-Hamas. A number of the members of that Government are non-Hamas. We need to be extremely careful regarding the efforts by the international community to ascertain once and for all whether this Government will do all in its power to stop the violence. Since the formation of the Government some Hamas-originated violence has been meted out in Gaza. We need to take it very carefully and work as a unit within the EU given that EU taxpayers' resources are being expended. We need to be absolutely certain that it is going to the people who deserve it and not for any ulterior motives.

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