David Norris (Independent)

I wish to send my best wishes to the Taoiseach. I am sure he will give us another distinguished Presidency, which will do honour to Ireland.

I want to discuss the conflict in the Middle East, particularly Palestine. In the absence of any reference to the Middle East in President Bush's state of the union speech, it is particularly important for the European Union to take a role in this regard. I warmly support the Government's balanced position on this very difficult matter. The recent visit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, was particularly important and was very much appreciated on all sides. I hope he will have an opportunity to return to that region during the Irish Presidency, particularly to visit Gaza and the West Bank, which I visited last week with representatives of other parties. As a long-time friend of Israel, I was quite horrified by what I saw.

I would like to speak about the wall, in particular. I understand that 23 February is the deadline for making submissions to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. As holders of the Presidency of the European Union, we have an opportunity to try to negotiate a collective position. I am aware that the Taoiseach is using his considerable talents in this regard. I emphasise that the possibility exists of making a separate submission and urge that we do so. We should not use the existence of protracted negotiations as an excuse for not doing this. We should not say "We tried to negotiate and now we have passed the deadline." Everybody on the ground, including our own representatives, has said it is essential for Ireland to make a submission to the court on this basis. I understand that an Irish company, Cement Roadstone Holdings, may be involved in the construction of the wall. I ask the Taoiseach to investigate this matter, to determine whether it is true and to stop it, if possible.

The bomb in Jerusalem this morning was very tragic. Such behaviour is counter-productive, as well as morally reprehensible. I ask the Taoiseach not to take the advice of Mr. Raanan Gissin, who said today on behalf of the Israeli Government that the world should stand aside to allow Israel to deal with the matter in security terms. This is the Sharon policy and this is what happened in Sabra and Chatila. We must not let it happen again and must be there as witnesses. I urge the Taoiseach to take action in respect of this matter.