Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

118. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that in the six months since the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza, not a single house has been rebuilt under the United Nation’s temporary Gaza reconstruction mechanism; and in view of aid organisations estimating that at the current rate of reconstruction it will take 100 years to rebuild Gaza, his views that the Gaza reconstruction mechanism is not fit for purpose. [10692/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department closely monitors the situation in Gaza, including the pace of the reconstruction. When I recently visited Gaza, I was struck by the desperation of the humanitarian situation for so many people.

I met with Pierre Krahenbuhl, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and with a number of families directly affected by the conflict. I raised with Foreign Minister Liberman the need to make further progress in lifting the blockade, to meet humanitarian need and as an enabler of social and economic progress. Commissioner General Krahenbuhl visited Brussels last week to meet with senior representatives of the EU, including representatives of Member States, and to share his concerns about the plight of vulnerable Palestinian refugees and the need for a political engagement to address their situation.

One of the big challenges for the reconstruction of Gaza is that much of the money committed at the Cairo Conference on Reconstruction has not yet materialized. I was pleased to announce funding of €4.7 million for UNRWA and the UN’s Emergency Response Fund in the course of my visit.

As for the reconstruction effort so far, in a briefing to the UN Security Council on 18 February, the UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman reported that the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism is providing a measure of hope that genuine progress can be achieved. He said that the GRM is functioning and delivering concrete results, citing statistics including the more than 47,000 individuals who have already procured construction material.

The Government has consistently and repeatedly called for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza. In my address to the major international conference on Gaza reconstruction held in Cairo on 12 October 2014, I said:

“The process begun in the 26 August ceasefire must continue, and both sides must work with the Egyptian mediators to address the underlying issues and find a new path in Gaza. This must mean an end to attacks from Gaza on Israel, but also an end to the unjust blockade which has endured now for seven years. This should begin with a real opening of supplies of materials needed for reconstruction, including of essential infrastructure such as water, sewage and power. Every effort must be made to ensure that humanitarian goods and personnel are guaranteed safe and unimpeded access to Gaza. But it must then continue to the end of senseless restrictions on ordinary economic and human life. The only way to reduce support for militarism among people in Gaza is to allow them to work and export their produce, to find jobs, to feel part of the wider Palestinian people and the wider world.”