Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

46. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the recent discussions he has had with Commissioner Ashton or at the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in relation to the Israeli/Palestine conflict; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39030/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am taking the question to refer to the informal meeting of Foreign Ministers in Lithuania on 6/7 September, rather than to the most recent Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 21 August, which focussed specifically on Egypt.At our meeting on 7 September, EU Foreign Ministers and High Representative Ashton exchanged views on the renewed political process in the Middle East, and the direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians, convened by the United States, which began at the end of July. The meeting benefitted from the presence of US Secretary of State Kerry, who has played a critical and energetic role in bringing these talks into being and in shepherding them forward, and who briefed us on progress so far. The details of those discussions are, rightly, being kept confidential. But Secretary Kerry advised us that the parties were engaging seriously, had progressed beyond other recent efforts, and that he still envisaged a comparatively short and concentrated process, lasting less than a year.

On the EU side my colleagues and I, for our part, committed to doing all we can to support the process.