Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My sole interest in the engagement we have been having with the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Government is to try to advance the cause of Palestinians, whom I believe are victims of an extraordinary injustice. Ireland needs to do everything it can at government level to try to advance efforts to achieve a two-state solution in time and to try to prevent violence and bloodshed.

That is what I have been doing. I have made it clear that I do not believe that boycotts and protest from a Government are the way to advance those efforts. There are many who do that in the NGO community and so on. That is a matter for them. I am a Government Minister and the approach I have taken over the past 12 months is one of direct and blunt engagement to try to ensure that the interests of Irish people in trying to advance a way forward for a peace process in the Middle East are as effective as possible. In time, the approach I have taken will prove to be the right one.

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