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

IDA Ireland is an autonomous statutory agency, which operates in accordance with the Industrial Development Acts, 1986 to 2019, and under the aegis of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who is best placed to comment on the agency’s activities and decisions and is responsible for trade. The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has answered a number of parliamentary questions on this matter.

Ireland distinguishes between the territory of the state of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967 in all of its engagements with Israel, including on trade and economic issues. This position is common across all Departments and policy coherence is ensured through co-ordination at official level.

Ireland is committed to the implementation of EU law, which makes a meaningful distinction between Israel and settlements in occupied territory. This distinction has important practical effects. Since settlements are not part of Israel, the EU-Israel Association Agreement does not apply to them. This means that different tariffs apply to goods from settlements, and settlements are not eligible for participation in EU-Israel programmes.

EU law and guidelines clearly differentiate between settlements on the one hand and Israel on the other. As such, they are an important part of the EU contribution to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemns the construction and expansion of settlements and calls on all States to distinguish in their relevant dealings between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.

The Department of Foreign Affairs ensures that there is information available for the public and companies regarding Ireland's policy on settlements via the Department's website. A whole-of-government approach is applied to the policy of differentiation and my Department also supports other Government Departments by providing guidance and clarification on the policy of differentiation.

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