Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Deputy will agree that we must await to see how this works out. There is no proposal on the table at present. I had a very constructive meeting today with Dr. Nabeel Shaath and he set out for me his perspective on likely developments. First, there may be an application to the UN Security Council. Ireland is not a member of the council. The issue will arise at council level as to whether some state exercises a veto on any proposal submitted. Then the question will arise as to whether a proposal should be put before the General Assembly. We must wait to see the form of such a proposal. As the Deputy indicated, there is a possibility that a proposal may be put to the General Assembly seeking observer status. We will consider that if it is made.

We will continue to discuss this issue with our EU partners. The Foreign Affairs Council is to meet next Monday and I will be attending. I expect this issue will be discussed at the meeting. I am also taking the opportunity to discuss the issue bilaterally with other Foreign Ministers, and did so last Friday when I met the German Foreign Minister, Mr. Westerwelle.

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