Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I have not yet made plans to visit Israel, Palestine or Gaza, but I intend to see the conditions there for myself in due course. Ireland has been active on this issue. I will continue to work to maintain a focus on it at EU level. There are three broad areas of concern with regard to Gaza, the first of which is the ongoing Israeli blockade. This has eased a little since last year, with some increase in materials allowed in and a small beginning in allowing some exports. Essentially, just a fraction of the needs of the territory are being allowed in or out. Much more needs to be done and more quickly.

Second, I have been deeply concerned by the worrying rise in violent exchanges across the Gaza border in recent weeks. These have included not only Israeli attacks into Gaza, in which 17 people are believed to have been killed, including civilians, but also continuing indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks by Hamas and other militants against civilian targets in Israel, including a deliberate attack by an anti-tank missile on a school bus in Israel, which injured a 16 year old boy who died last Sunday. While some measure of calm has returned in recent days, a complete ceasefire seems as far away as ever.

See this speech in context