James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the situation in Gaza. [7943/24]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel association agreement. [9015/24]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen on the situation in Gaza. [9140/24]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the situation in Gaza. [9341/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the situation in Gaza. [10615/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his joint correspondence, along with the Spanish Prime Minister, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the situation in Gaza. [10621/24]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions No. 13 to 18, inclusive, together.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and I wrote a joint letter to the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, on 14 February expressing our deep concern at the deteriorating situation in Israel and Gaza, and particularly its impact on women and children. With the risk of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe posed by Israeli military operations in Rafah, and all that occurred and continues to occur in Gaza since October 2023, we asked that the EU Commission undertake an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel association agreement. Article 2 of the association agreement provides that "relations between the parties... shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles in their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement".

Given the urgency of the situation, we hope that the Commission will undertake the review as soon as possible and if it considers Israel to be in breach of its obligations, that it will propose measures to the Council for adoption. Such measures could include suspending the agreement, in whole or in part. It would then be for the Council to decide how to proceed.

Our letter also addressed several other important issues. We reiterated our total condemnation of Hamas' indiscriminate terrorist attacks on 7 October and we called for the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages. We also expressed our concern at the alleged involvement of staff members of UNRWA in the Hamas attack but said that UNRWA must be allowed to continue its vital work in Gaza and that EU support for UNRWA must be maintained. As the House will be aware the Government has increased our national contribution to €20 million. Our letter also recalled that the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to take immediate and effective measures to ensure urgently-needed basic services and humanitarian assistance are provided in Gaza. These orders are binding.

President von der Leyen has acknowledged receipt of the letter. I expect the Commission to revert with a substantial response to our serious concerns as soon as possible. The request for a review of the association agreement at EU level was discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council, FAC, on 19 February, which was attended by the Tánaiste. I will raise it again at the European Council meeting later this week. We will continue to raise Ireland's concerns about the desperate situation in Gaza at every available opportunity. We urgently need a lasting ceasefire, the release of all hostages and the provision of much-needed food, medicine and utilities to the people of Gaza.

Finally, as we set out in our letter, a two-state solution represents the only way to end the cycle of violence and to bring peace and security to the people of Israel and Palestine. We will continue to work with the EU and our Arab and international partners to secure precisely that outcome.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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I wish the Taoiseach all the best on his announcement this morning. In regard to the question, I hope that review will take place as soon as possible. It is clear that the Taoiseach delivered a very strong message in Washington regarding the urgent need for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. As we know, aid agencies have warned of an imminent famine in the enclave. An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding. The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has spoken about how starvation is being used as a weapon of war by Israel. The international community has finally woken up to this appalling situation, better late than never. Humanitarian aid needs to get into Gaza by land, sea and air. Ireland is to be commended on its continuing funding of UNRWA. Canada and Sweden have resumed funding of the agency and the EU Commission is now providing €50 million to it. The EU has also opened up a corridor from Cyprus. The US promises to build a port to ship in vital aid and Jordan is co-ordinating airdrops with other countries. However, Israel must open up the land crossings.

In his talks in Washington, did the Taoiseach get any grounds for hope that a sustained scaling up of the delivery of humanitarian assistance could be organised? Could Ireland offer any practical assistance to get aid into Gaza, perhaps by working with other countries?

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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More than 13,000 children are among the 31,000 people killed in Gaza in a little over five months, with 72,000 people injured. Having completely exhausted food supplies and coping capacities, more than 1 million people are struggling with catastrophic hunger and starvation. Famine is imminent. In the past number of days Israel has denied UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini entrance to Rafah, while also subjecting the 1.5 million people seeking shelter there, to overnight missile attacks. Those responsible for cold-blooded massacre, war crimes and genocide currently enjoy what is among the most preferential diplomatic, economic and trading relationships with the EU of virtually any non-EU country, worth billions of euro each year.

The joint letter from the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Sánchez of Spain seeking an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel association agreement, was a welcome intervention. While at various points the EU or individual member states have been quick to initiate reviews of Palestinian NGOs or funding of UNRWA, any attempt to pressure Israel to end its onslaught and adhere to international humanitarian law has proceeded at a woeful pace. If I picked up the Taoiseach's words correctly, he has not received a response to the letter from EU Commission President von der Leyen. Will he confirm that? Has he received any feedback form any sources as to whether a review will be conducted? Has a process begun? At what pace will that proceed in order to reach some form of conclusion?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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There are four further Deputies to speak. I call Deputy Mick Barry.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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I want to challenge the Taoiseach on a point he raised earlier when he said that my approach had not assisted the people of Gaza and had zero effect. By implication he is talking about the approach of socialists. By implication he is talking about the global protest movement of which we are part. His statement is not correct, in my view. Why did the man with whom he was spending time on Sunday at the White House, Joe Biden, change his position to the point where he now opposes a ground assault in Rafah? It is because of the pressure he feels from below, namely, the huge protests in US cities, the big number of votes he has lost in the Democratic primaries and the big number of votes he is fearful of losing in the general election.

The protest movement in the United States certainly would have been boosted had the Taoiseach boycotted the events last week. However, even if he had not, and had made a criticism of Biden and the US, as Sally Rooney says, not just of the bombers but those supplying the bombs, the protest movement would have been boosted as well. It is a pity that he failed to do so.

On the point he challenged me on, I do not think he has right on his side there.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach rejected our call, and the call of huge numbers of people across the world, to boycott Joe Biden because of his complicity with the genocidal massacre that Israel is committing and the fact that he has armed Israel to the teeth and enabled it to commit that massacre. Did the Taoiseach ask him to stop arming Israel? Mary Robinson echoed the calls of millions of people throughout the world who are saying that were the United States and western governments to stop arming Israel, it would not be able to continue with this. That is the truth, is it not? It gets all the weapons, made in the USA, and billions in US aid. Did the Taoiseach ask him directly to please stop arming Israel and enabling its ability to commit a genocide? I suspect he did not. Mary Robinson asked him to. We asked him to. To my mind, he should have. To compare this with apartheid-era South Africa, is there any point at which a boycott of a state that is committing the crimes that Israel is committing against the Palestinians justifies the sort of boycott that was imposed on apartheid South Africa?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind members we need to leave time for the Taoiseach to respond.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I want to ask the Taoiseach about the weapons coming through Irish airspace. They shot up in October of last year. They went from an average of about 100 exemptions for the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft per month, to about 200. There were 190 in October, and they have stayed at a consistently high level since then. What happened in October? There was 7 October and then the genocidal onslaught by Israel on Gaza.

At the very least, it seems strange and coincidental that the carriage of munitions on civil aircraft through this country increased dramatically at the time the war in Gaza started. It seems likely, on the face of it, that there is a connection between the two, but we do not know, do we, because the Government refuses to inspect aircraft. It gives permissions but it does not inspect. Will it inspect the aircraft at Shannon Airport and elsewhere?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As regards the humanitarian situation in Gaza and funding for UNRWA, we call on all states to restore their funding for UNRWA pending the outcome of the investigation about possible collaboration. The EU has done that and has restored funding and we want other countries to do the same.

As regards my talks in Washington, yes, we talked about the US putting more pressure on Israel to allow more trucks through, and that is being done. The US also has proposals to build a temporary jetty or port to allow more aid to get through. I think we all agree that it needs to go through by land, however; there is only so much that can be done by port and air. We have had conversations with Jordan about how we might be able to help in a practical way, but the main way we can help is through money and political pressure, and that is what we are doing.

As regards the Sánchez-Varadkar letter to President von der Leyen, that has been followed up on. It was discussed twice at the Foreign Affairs Council. The discussion was led by Vice-President Borrell. He asked ministers for a political steer on it and as to how to proceed and there was not a consensus. Some countries took the view that a review or action should be initiated in order to put pressure on Israel. Other countries took the view that should not be done. In the absence of consensus to move things forward, things have not moved forward, but I will raise it again tomorrow in my discussions with Vice-President Borrell and President von der Leyen.

On the point raised by Deputy Barry, I am happy to clarify that when I referred to his approach, I was referring to calls for boycotts of our allies, such as the US and President Biden. I do not think that would have a productive effect. The slot would just have been filled by somebody else, quite frankly. I do not think it would have resonated around the world. I do think the protests are important and effective. The protests that have happened around the world have been helpful, frankly, on this issue to those of us who are trying to get much the same outcome as the Deputy, albeit a two-state solution rather than a one-state solution, which almost nobody on the ground actually wants.

As regards my discussions with President Biden, I discussed US military aid for Ukraine and Israel. President Biden made it very clear that Israel has its own military strength and that the US would continue military aid for Israel in order that it can defend itself against the many countries that do not recognise it and would wish to attack it.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Did the Taoiseach ask him not to?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As regards former President Robinson, she did not contact me in advance of the meeting with President Biden, certainly not directly. There was no letter, call or missed message. She may have done so indirectly, but that would have been very late in the day.

As regards recognition-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Did the Taoiseach ask him to stop sending weapons?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We discussed the matter.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Did you ask him not to send weapons?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I believe I did, if that is what the Deputy is asking-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Yes.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----but it is kind of a moot point when somebody says to you the opposite.