Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of media reports that Swiss forensic experts have detected the radioactive element, polonium, in samples taken from the remains of President Arafat, who died in November 2004. It is reported that the levels detected are unlikely to have been natural, and therefore that grounds exist to investigate the possibility that he was poisoned. The Government has no official information on these results or means of investigating the matter. I understand a French judicial investigation into the circumstances surrounding President Arafat’s death was launched in August 2012 and is ongoing. There is obviously a concern that this allegation could have a disruptive influence on the current negotiations. I note that many Palestinians, perhaps not unexpectedly, have stated their assumption that Israel was responsible for poisoning the late president.

It is clearly regrettable that, despite widespread rumours of foul play at the time, no tests were carried out - at a family request - on President Arafat’s remains at the time of death, and that this suspicion should arise now at the very moment when, after long efforts, direct negotiations between the two sides have been resumed. President Arafat spent his whole life in the pursuit of Palestinian freedom and an independent state of Palestine. While it is quite legitimate to pursue questions about his death, it would be a tragedy if this was to jeopardise the best, and perhaps the last, chance to achieve what he worked for. I would therefore hope and urge President Abbas and his administration not to allow themselves to be distracted from continuing to engage fully in the crucial peace talks now under way.

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