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

I will happily brief the Deputy on the planned meeting which I hope will be held in January, but it would probably not be helpful for me to put all of the details into the public domain right now. What I can say is I have spoken to a number of Arab Foreign Ministers, including those of Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, and the Arab League. I have also spoken to a number of EU Ministers, primarily the French Minister but a number of others, too. I have spoken to the US side. I have a good relationship with a person by the name of Jason Greenblatt who is involved in helping to put together a US initiative with Jared Kushner and others. Ireland is not trying to make a secret of this. We are an interested party that wants to be constructive and bring some new thinking to a situation that has seen so many negatives stacked up in the past 12 months, in particular. There is justification for greater EU involvement in a constructive way. I do not believe that, at the end of a meeting such as this, we will have any declaration or demand. Instead, we want to have a meeting at which people will be able to speak freely without the pressure of the media spotlight and talk about new approaches to get people around the negotiating table to try to create some positive momentum. I will happily brief the Deputy in more detail, if he likes.

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