asked the Minister for External Affairs why Ireland refused the request from the United Nations to have a representative on the Arab-Israeli investigation team.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Arab-Israeli Investigation Team.
19.
The Government declined to accept membership of the United Nations special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied (Arab) territories because we believe that the situation and the human misery in the Middle East are only too well known. An enquiry by the proposed special committee would add little to knowledge of the tragic situation and would serve only to exacerbate feelings and to divert effort from the main and most pressing objective — that of settling the refugee problem and negotiating a stable peace in the area.
It was for these reasons that the Irish delegation did not support the draft resolution in the General Assembly last December to set up the three-member special committee.