Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 30: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether the Israeli authorities' permission for an average of only 715 truckloads of construction material per month for the rebuilding of Gaza is insufficient when a report by 25 non-governmental organisations, including Amnesty International, and based on UN data, requires 670,000 truckloads of construction material to rebuild the region after the war that ended in January 2009, and that this easing of restrictions by the Israeli authorities is unrealistic in view of the fact that it would take an average of 78 years to rebuild Gaza under those circumstances with a completion date in 2088. [20091/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I have stated consistently my view that the slight relaxation in the blockade of Gaza, while welcome, has not gone nearly far enough or fast enough. I agree that the volume of construction materials being allowed into Gaza is entirely insufficient for the essential reconstruction needs of both people and infrastructure. While overall volumes transferred to Gaza have increased, they remain at only one-third of pre-blockade levels. This is all the more frustrating when we know that Hamas and other groups of most concern to Israel are readily able to access building materials through the tunnel economy, and indeed raise substantial income from controlling the import through the tunnels of goods and materials for private use. The Israeli restrictions therefore impact principally on the UN and other international bodies, who can only use materials from authorised sources, and the many ordinary Gazans who cannot afford the smuggled materials.

Of similar concern is the almost complete lack of provision for exports from Gaza, without which economic life and employment cannot recover, leaving more than half the population directly dependent on humanitarian aid. Moderate leaders and businessmen who might provide constructive leadership in the community are thus weakened at the expense of militants who are able to exploit the frustration and economic hardship caused by the blockade. The blockade as currently enforced is therefore not only unjustified but counterproductive even on its own terms.

While much international attention is focused on the political process, on events in the wider Middle East, or on events such as the flotilla, Ireland has consistently sought, both nationally and at EU level, to maintain a focus on the need to bring the blockade to an end. I repeat my call for the crossing points into Gaza to be reopened to all normal movement, in and out.