Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

Would the Minister of State agree that one of the great contrasts between the Northern Ireland achievement and the Middle East is that the Northern Ireland talks had a secretariat attached? If the European Union was serious about the roadmap for peace and the Quartet, it would have established a secretariat to serve the proposals of the Quartet. It did not do so, and neither did the European Union condemn outright the building of the wall that divides Palestinians from their own lands, nor did it seek to vindicate the International Court of Justice.

Is the Minister of State aware of the widespread public opinion in Ireland that Ireland has no longer an independent opinion on the Middle East crisis, that it has buried itself within an unaccountable position that has excluded many Palestinians from what are their revenues? I put it to him that it is not true to state that the taxes withheld have been restored to Palestinians. They have not. Part of them have been restored to some of the Palestinians, particularly those in the Fatah Party who are loyal to Mahmoud Abbas.

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