With respect, just because the Deputy says it does not make it so in terms of the-----

In terms of-----

If the Deputy would let me answer the question-----

Human Rights Watch is a respected NGO. I value the role it and other civil society organisations play. The report by Human Rights Watch is a lengthy and complex document which, as I said earlier, is being reviewed by my Department. I continue to be concerned about the overall human rights situation in Israel and Palestine and discriminatory practices. There is no doubt Israel's actions have violated Palestinian human rights and equal treatment, and unilateral actions have undermined trust between Israel and the Pal…

With respect, the Deputy’s words only go so far. The way in which we can get something done here is to build consensus so that the EU can collectively-----

Please listen. Much is being done. Ireland is raising its voice internationally but pretending that Ireland on its own can change the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not being realistic. The way for us to really change things on the ground is to work and use our influence within the UN Security Council and the EU, which is exactly what we are doing, rather than putting ourselves out on a limb and taking a position that we cannot build consensus around and, therefore, not actually impacting on the live…

The safety and security of our staff and their families is a fundamental priority of my Department. My Department promotes best practice in managing the security of our people, material assets and premises through workplace security design, review, awareness-raising and training in consultation with the State’s security experts. Ireland has 90 missions abroad, some of which are located in states where there is a moderate to high level of personal security threat. The host state is under a special duty under interna…

The Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces contribute significantly to the security of our people abroad and I am certain this support will continue and potentially even broaden. An Garda Síochána supported seven on-site mission security reviews in 2019 and three in early 2020, two in Africa. Members of the Defence Forces supported two complex projects at three missions over 2019. I hope we can soon resume the cycle of monitoring to enhance the security of our network. The Defence Forces UN training school at the Cu…

As I said, they are part of the training programme, part of providing services and advice and assessments at times. Right now, the Department of Foreign Affairs is probably talking to the Department of Defence more than it has ever done, for the obvious reason that the same Minister is over both Departments. Therefore, where appropriate, we of course work together and there are some good examples of how we have done that. Recently, when there was an explosion in Beirut Port, the co-operation between the Department …

Ireland has been a long-standing champion of the Women, Peace and Security, WPS, agenda at the UN. It is a key priority for our two-year membership of the Security Council. This agenda recognises the differential impacts of conflict on women, but also their critical agency in conflict prevention and resolution and in peace-building. Ireland co-chairs the UN Security Council’s Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security. In doing so, we are working closely with senior UN leadership on the implementation of WP…

Ireland has been to the fore on the women, peace and security agenda for many years. There are other countries that are very much with us on that agenda within the UN. We very much want to build that into the mandate for peacekeeping missions as well. Our own experience on this island is that if we have gender balance in the context of both politics and peace negotiations, we are likely to get better outcomes. That is certainly the case in a place like Mali also. We are actually involved in two different missions i…

It is true to say that in many countries the Covid-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and their role in society. It has also had a disproportionate impact on girls' education as many schools have closed and the priority in some cases has been to educate boys rather than boys and girls. That is why we are putting an enormous amount of public money from the Irish Aid budget into the education of girls over the next number of years. It is close to €250 million. As I mentioned earlier, we are seeing…

The Israeli ambassador is able to speak for himself and he will come before the foreign affairs committee tomorrow, potentially to give the Israeli perspective. He will do as the Deputy might expect, which is to give an Israeli perspective on security and the reason the Israeli Government felt it had to respond the way it has to protect its population against rocket fire from Gaza and so on. That is part of the story that we cannot ignore, of course. There is a broader story as well in terms of what has driven the …

Do I make two contributions?

I will make a quick reply with the indulgence of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

It is like chalk and cheese. Essentially, we have gone from an American Administration in Washington DC that really denied there was a climate emergency at all to one that wants to be a global leader with the ambition around the required response to deliver the targets of 2030 and 2050, which are dramatic. The truth is that if the US and EU combined are not effectively a force for change, this cannot and will not happen. This is not the first time Mr. Kerry has reached out to the Foreign Affairs Council and it is t…

I do not believe there is any confusion. There is no clear decision from the Government yet on moving away from our current approach to international travel, which is very restrictive. There is hope, of course, that as we move through summer that position will change as more people are vaccinated and society becomes more protected with the shield of vaccination. Other countries across the European Union will create a level of protection, along with the United States, and there is hope that the public health risks l…

I take the point that there is much concern in the travel industry generally and in the tourism sector around wanting to understand, plan for and prepare for timelines around facilitating international travel again. As of yet, the Government has not given a clear timeline around that issue. The Tánaiste said today that he hopes to see travel between Britain and Ireland facilitated to become much freer over the summer months. I hope that is the case. We have a valuable common travel area which we carefully protected…

I can understand the frustration, particularly for those who have airports in their constituencies, but for everybody. It was not too long ago when many Members were calling on us to put anyone who was coming from anywhere into mandatory hotel quarantine. I am not saying the Deputy was saying that but many Members were saying that. We are trying to get the balance right in managing risk and taking the advice from our public health teams and then making decisions with as much pragmatism as we can have in those decis…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 112 together. Ireland, along with our EU partners, remains deeply concerned about the treatment of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the province of Xinjiang. We are closely following the situation, including on reports of systemic abuse, torture, arbitrary detention, forced labour, forced sterilisations and restrictions on freedom of religion and belief. In response to the situation and under the EU global human rights sanctions regime, the EU adopted sanctions on 22 Ma…