Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I take the overall points made by the Deputy. With regard to the EU-Israel agreement, Ireland was one of the strong advocates for a linkage between it and political developments and commitment to a two-state solution. This was not entirely appreciated by the Israeli Government, as was articulated to me by Foreign Minister Livni, when I met her. I was asked why Ireland was so strong among EU states in taking a position on this. A number of other states joined us in that. It is an ongoing issue in the EU. Some member states, in essence, want to separate a policy of a strong trade and economic agreement with Israel from the political process and human rights issues within the Middle East. We have a clear position on that, insisting that there has to be linkage. Almost all the EU states regularly criticise the ongoing settlement within Palestine and so on, which in our view is compounding the difficulties of ultimately reaching a solution.

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