Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The Government and I share the Deputy's view on what we are seeing in terms of the stopping of aid getting into Gaza. It is despicable and it is causing untold harm, to put it very mildly. One cannot find the words to capture how horrific the situation is in Gaza. I thank the Deputy for his comments regarding the Government's intervention on behalf of Ireland at the ICJ. I assure him that our work continues. We recently had an EU-Palestinian high-level dialogue, which was the first engagement between the EU and Palestine. I represented Ireland at that engagement. We have provided very significant funding at an EU level to support the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA.

Regarding the occupied territories Bill, I remain absolutely committed to acting on the commitment in the programme for Government to bring forward legislation. I am due to meet the sponsor of the original Bill next week. I am eager to get to work with her on this but I am also every eager that any legislation we pass can genuinely be meaningful and lawful. I am happy to come back to the Deputy in the next week regarding my plans.

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