Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if enterprises based in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are currently receiving financial support from EU programmes; and his views on whether Irish companies and persons should be discouraged from investing in enterprises in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. [15534/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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EU cooperation programmes with external partner countries, and entities located in them, are administered by the European Commission; my Department is not in a position to monitor enterprises in those countries or entities which might be in receipt of some degree of EU support. I think it is likely that some enterprises based in settlements may have benefitted from EU programmes in the past, due to ambiguities in the criteria, and I cannot rule out that some such cases may still exist. In my view, participation in EU programmes by companies based in settlements would be contrary to the EU's clearly stated position on settlements; and I would hope that, as programmes come up for renewal, the eligibility criteria can be clarified to exclude this.

The Deputy will be aware that the Foreign Affairs Council last December referred in its conclusions to the commitment of the EU "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."

I would encourage Irish companies and persons to consider very carefully the purpose and implications of any investment they may consider in the settlements. My Department's official travel advice also contains a clear warning that the purchase of property in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory is subject to risk and should not be undertaken without independent legal advice first being sought.