Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not make any disclosures about voting. I welcome Mr. Mitchell. I commend him not only on his excellent paper but also, as others have said, on his great command of the brief as shown by his answering a very wide range of questions from Members. All of us would welcome his suggestion that we might extend an invitation to Baroness Catherine Ashton to speak in the House when she is in Dublin. That is an excellent suggestion. It fits in with a question I wish to ask. It refers to his immense work in the area of development and development aid. I am struck by what Senator van Turnhout said about the link between conflict and poverty. I note how much the EU has given to Palestine over a long period of time in order to support infrastructure within Palestine, particularly over periods of time when Palestinians were under a great deal of attack and when conflict was being perpetrated. We note the immense poverty in the Gaza Strip as a result. I have always wondered why the EU is not more proactive in trying to broker a solution between Palestine and Israel in order to achieve a resolution in that protracted and ongoing conflict, given the immense stake built up by the EU in quite rightly supporting the Palestinians. Should Catherine Ashton be doing more for the peace process?