Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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116. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on recent engagement between his Department and the Palestinian Authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43456/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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119. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on any recent engagement his Department has had with the EU regarding Palestine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43459/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 119 together.

Ireland engages regularly with the Palestinian Authority on a range of issues, including at political level.

I met with President Abbas in September of last year in New York in my capacity as Taoiseach during the United Nations High Level week. I also spoke with him by telephone in December 2024, and in May 2024 following Ireland’s recognition of the state of Palestine. In February, I met with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Mustafa, in the margins of the Munich Security Conference.

As the Deputy is aware, Ireland’s Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority maintains close and regular contact with the Palestinian authorities, and senior officials in my Department are also in regular contact with Ambassador Wahba Abdalmajid and other officials at the Embassy of the State of Palestine. I met Ambassador Abdalmajid most recently on 13 July.

At EU level, I attended the first ever meeting of the EU-Palestine High-Level Political Dialogue in Luxembourg on 14 April, which included an exchange between EU Ministers and Prime Minister Mustafa. In my intervention, I underlined the EU’s steadfast commitment to Palestine and welcomed further deepening of the EU-Palestine relationship.

Ireland continues to advocate within the EU about the situation in Gaza, and the West Bank including East Jerusalem. At the May Foreign Affairs Council, the EU agreed to a review of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a call Ireland made with Spain in February 2024.

Consequent to that review, and the significant finding that Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations, Ireland has been repeatedly clear that there must now be concrete options for follow-up action to this review. Ireland continues to press the EEAS and the Commission to undertake further work in this regard.

In June, I joined other EU Foreign Ministers in writing to the High Representative calling for the EU to undertake a detailed review of its compliance with the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ on the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In addition Ireland has strongly supported sanctions adopted by the EU against individuals and entities involved in settler violence in the West Bank.

A shared priority with European and regional partners is the UN High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the question of Palestine and the Implementation of the two-State Solution. This will take place in New York on 28-29 July and will be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. This Conference will provide an important opportunity to advance discussions on concrete initiatives towards implementing the two-State solution.

Ireland will continue to maintain channels of communication with the Palestinian Authority, including through our mission in Ramallah and the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Dublin.