Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I note he was in the Dáil Chamber and was supposed to be relieved of his duties there but his replacement did not show up. He is irreplaceable in any event.

The first Commencement matter has been tabled by our birthday girl, Senator Lynn Boylan. Happy birthday, Senator.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Leas-Cathaoirleach. Given that it is UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I raise an issue related to the Israel-Palestine conflict that has been overshadowed.Like all conflicts, there is always a material aspect to the war. For decades, Israel has exploited Palestinian natural resources in contravention of international law. A recent study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development points out that new discoveries of natural gas in the Levant Basin are in the region of 122 trillion cu. ft, while recoverable oil is estimated at 1.7 billion barrels. In light of the significant fossil fuel reserve under Palestinian territory, I wish to raise concerns about the control of these resources with the Minister of State. Those reserves should be used for the benefit of the Palestinian people. However, the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967 and the blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 have prevented the Palestinian people from exercising any control over their own fossil fuel resources. I fear those resources will be exploited for the benefit of others.

What is worse is that the EU now seems to be complicit in facilitating the Israeli Government in appropriating those resources. The EU’s involvement, and therefore Ireland’s involvement, stems from the memorandum of understanding between the EU, the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was signed in June 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The three parties thrashed out a deal to help ensure Europe’s energy security. The memorandum of understanding outlines that the three sides will endeavour to work collectively towards enabling a stable delivery of natural gas to the EU.

What is deeply troubling though is that in the memorandum, for the first time in approximately ten years, the EU has agreed a deal like this with Israel without any clause excluding the occupied Palestinian land. The long-standing Irish and EU policy is that all agreements with Israel should be explicitly inapplicable to territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The 2012 European Council's meeting on foreign affairs restated this policy position. It stated:

The EU reiterates that it will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders ... The European Union expresses its commitment to ensure that - in line with international law - all agreements between the State of Israel and the European Union must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

The memorandum of understanding contravenes UN policy as set out in the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which underlines that it “will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations” and calls upon all states, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of the resolution, “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

It is a troubling development that there is no mention of the clause on the occupied territories in the memorandum of understanding signed last year. It forces us to question what length the EU will go to ensure energy security. Why has there been this change in policy? Why has any reference to the occupied territories been excluded? It begs the question as to whether this could be feeding into the reasons the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill has been left languishing in the Dáil and will not be passed, given that the EU now seems to be ignoring its own policy of excluding the occupied territories.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The memorandum of understanding, MOU, the Senator refers to covers co-operation on trade, transport and the export of gas to the European Union. The MOU is not an Irish MOU but rather it is between the EU, the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt. The MOU was signed at the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, of which Ireland is not a member and at which the EU is an observer.

High Representative and Vice-President Borrell Fontelles, on behalf of the European Commission, advised, in response to a parliamentary question, that the memorandum of understanding signed on 15 June 2022 is of a non-binding nature. Although the MOU is non-binding, according to Vice-President Borrell, the EU is strictly prohibited in the implementation of a non-binding instrument from acting in a way that would amount to recognising the illegal Israeli occupation.

As in all European Commission negotiations, consultation with member states is done via the normal EU institutional communication channels.My Department has policy responsibility for Ireland's energy security, and communicates views in this policy area. Wider foreign policy considerations are led by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, including communicating such with the European Commission.

The memorandum of understanding was signed a few months after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, and it aligns with the EU's objective of identifying alternative sources to Russian gas. Russian gas now represents less than 10% of EU gas, compared with over 40% before the Russian invasion. Identifying alternatives to Russian gas was one element of a wider package of measures in the EU, for example, measures to demand reduction and increase the EU storage levels of natural gas.

Ireland imports four fifths of the natural gas that is uses from the UK, with the remaining fifth being supplied by the Corrib gas field. The EU has a diverse supply of natural gas, including UK indigenous pipeline gas, Norway indigenous pipeline gas, LNG, UK gas storage and gas interconnectors that the UK has with Belgium and the Netherlands. Gas supplies are expected to flow normally this winter. The UK and Ireland are not reliant on Russian gas.

A memorandum of understanding was also signed on 11 September 2023 by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, with his counterpart, Claire Couthinho, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. This memorandum of understanding, on co-operation for natural gas security of supply, strengthens established practices and co-operation between the two States and relevant Departments on the security of natural gas supply. It outlines how the two States will work together in the event of a reduction or a disruption of supply.

The Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 report, its supporting annexes and work programme of 28 actions was agreed by Government and published on 14 November. It outlines a new strategy to ensure energy security in Ireland for this decade, while ensuring a sustainable transition to a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050. This landmark report, which is informed by comprehensive review and analysis, concludes that Ireland's future energy will be secure by moving from a fossil fuel-based energy system to an electricity-led system, maximising our renewal electricity potential, flexibility and being integrated into Europe's energy systems.

With regard to natural gas, the report concludes that while gas supplies and infrastructure are adequate to meet our demand projections, there are risks in the event of disruption to infrastructure. To reduce reliance on gas imports, we need to reduce natural gas demand and to develop renewable indigenous gas supply and renewable gas-compatible storage. As a transitional measure, we will introduce a strategic gas emergency reserve to address security needs in the medium term, to used only if disruption to gas supplies occurs. This will be examined by Gas Networks Ireland and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, will return to Government with a detailed proposal in 2024.

I thank Senator Boylan for raising this important matter and look forward to hearing the views of the Seanad.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the recent energy security report and the findings that a non-commercial LNG terminal, and not a commercial one, will be the way to go. I have stated that in this House previously.

The Minister of State mentioned that the memorandum of understanding is an EU memorandum of understanding and not an Irish one. We all know that because we are a member state, EU policy dictates the view or perception of where Ireland's position is. We have seen that with the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, going out to Israel, and the damage that did to cohesion within the EU because she took a position that was contrary to that of the majority of member states. Has the Tánaiste raised the exclusion of the reference to the occupied territories with the European Commission? Has the Government expressed any concerns as to why suddenly now the clause is absent? Even if it is non-binding, there has to be a reason that clause was not included in the memorandum of understanding.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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My answer concentrated on energy security because that is what my Department is responsible for. The person who is best placed to answer questions about foreign affairs policy is the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. I am sure he would be happy to answer the Senator's question. My understanding, however, is that there has been no change of policy. On the question of agreements between the EU and Israel, all those agreements should include a clause that explicitly excludes the territory that was occupied by Israel in 1967. That is the policy of the EU and of Ireland. In this particular case, I understand that the memorandum of understanding is non-binding. I do not know if that is relevant. The right person to ask about the foreign policy is the Minister for Foreign Affairs.