Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply on behalf of the Tánaiste. I welcome the signal from the Tánaiste that Ireland will move to introduce guidelines if it is not done at EU level. I appreciate that. I am concerned about that as that has been said since 2012 and it has not happened yet. I urge that it would be done as soon as possible. The reply from the Department refers to the fact that the reason the EU has not been pursuing this issue more vigorously is because negotiations are in progress. Negotiations in regard to the Israeli occupation of Palestine have been in progress in different formats for a long time. My view on the current negotiations is that I do not believe Israel is acting in good faith. I do not believe it could possibly claim to be doing so when it continues to expand more and more settlements all the time, as it did earlier this month. If anything, it is using the negotiations as a cover for increasing advancement into Palestinian areas and undermining any realistic prospect for a two-state solution in the future. We should not play into that game by putting off taking measures ourselves simply because negotiations are taking place. We would all hope that the negotiations will turn out well but unfortunately we have grounds for suspicion.

The reply also refers to the fact that on labelling guidelines the EU law already requires that products from the settlements should not be referred to as coming from Israel. A label for Israeli produce does not state "produce of Israel", rather it states produce of such and such a settlement or area. A consumer reading such a label does not know if that settlement or area is in Israel or if it is in the occupied Palestinian territories. We need to have absolute clarity on this. The only way to have that is if labels state "Israeli produce from the occupied Palestinian territories". In that way consumers will have absolute clarity about the produce; they cannot be expected to know the geography of the area.

The issue of public procurement and Irish State contracts going to companies that are actively involved in the occupied Palestinian is not dealt with in the reply and the Minister of State might ask the Tánaiste to respond to me directly on that matter.