Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

That remains my position and that of the Government. I think it is objectively fair to say, and there is not much disagreement on this across the House, that the immediate focus has been on the humanitarian aid and supporting the peace plan, on seeing the ceasefire and the hostages being released and looking at practical ways that we can help. International law remains international law and breaches of international law remain breaches of international law. The commitment in the programme for Government on the occupied Palestinian territories remains consistent. In June, as the Deputy knows, the Government approved the general scheme of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (prohibition of importation of goods) Bill. The main purpose of the Bill is to prohibit the trade into the State from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade held a number of hearings on the general scheme and received submissions representing a range of views and perspectives. I see the Chairman of the committee, Deputy Lahart, is here and I thank him for his work. Pre-legislative scrutiny is an important part of the legislative process. Detailed work to analyse the report and recommendations is well under way, with a view to getting the best and most robust legislation. The next steps in the process, including the timeline for the progress of the Bill will be considered by Government shortly. I think I gave an indication about the timeline during the debate in the House on the flotilla.

Notwithstanding the positive and welcome recent developments regarding the ceasefire and the hostage release deal in Gaza, Deputy Ó Laoghaire is right that it is extraordinarily fragile. We need to keep all of our options very much there. Now is not the time to remove such actions and we have made that view very clear at an EU level as well. It is still our intention to proceed as planned.

See this speech in context