Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

A number of countries, principally in Latin America, including Brazil, Argentina and Chile, have recently decided to recognise a Palestinian state. This is in addition to those states, mostly in Africa or the Islamic world, which have recognised Palestine for many years. Over 30 years ago Ireland, in a speech by my predecessor, the late Brian Lenihan, was the first EU member state to declare that the resolution of the Palestinian issue must involve the establishment of a Palestinian state. That is now the policy of the European Union and the international community. I share the commitment of successive Irish Governments to this policy and will be working towards its realisation. It would be premature to declare such recognition now in advance of actual control of the territory in question, a condition to which we in Ireland attach great importance. It is also important to recall that the Palestinian leadership, while clearly working towards the declaration of a state in the near future, has not yet done so. The timing of such a declaration will be an important decision for it to take and may involve potential negative consequences on the ground.

Separately, a number of EU partners, including Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, have recently taken steps to upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegations in their countries, largely in recognition of the continuing progress being made by Prime Minister Fayyad and the Palestinian Authority in building the institutions of a future Palestinian state. By a decision of the previous Government in January, which I fully endorse, the Palestinian representative office in Ireland was upgraded to mission status, headed by an ambassador. I very much hope to be able to extend Irish recognition to an actual functioning Palestinian state during my time in office.

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