Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last May the European Union adopted a very strong set of conclusions regarding settlements. At the end of that meeting I stated my belief that if the settlements did not stop, the EU would have to consider stronger measures. I suggested at that stage that we would have to consider the possibility of imposing a ban on settlement products entering the EU. In my judgment, we will not get agreement at EU level for an EU-wide ban on settlement products. Therefore, we have concentrated our energies and efforts on introducing a labelling regime. The EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, has circulated a set of proposals and guidelines on labelling. A number of colleague foreign Ministers and I have responded to that initiative and expressed our support for an EU-wide set of guidelines on the labelling of products from settlement areas. I believe that would be most effective as it would operate on an EU-wide basis. I have also begun discussions with other Departments here with a view to pursuing national guidelines, if needs be. However, it is preferable that we do this on an EU-wide basis, for obvious reasons. Ireland is a market of only 4.5 million, whereas the EU is a market of over 500 million, so an EU-wide labelling regime would have a much bigger impact. The state of play at the moment is that proposals have been circulated by the EU High Representative. A number of member states, including Ireland, have expressed support for those proposals. I do not expect that we will have a full discussion on this at the May Foreign Affairs Council meeting but I do expect us to have a full discussion on it at the June meeting.

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