Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 January 2024
4. Deputy Cathal Berry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if a risk assessment has been carried out on the impact to Irish troops and diplomats in the Middle East should Ireland formally support South Africa's Gaza case before the International Court of Justice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3483/24]
View answerHas a formal risk assessment been carried out on the likely impact to our diplomats and peacekeeping troops in the Middle East if Ireland chooses and opts to join South Africa in its case in the ICJ on the Gaza and Palestinian question?
In the immediate aftermath of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel my Department established a cross-departmental task force to assess the impact of the attack on Irish citizens, troops and diplomatic staff in the region. The task force, which continues to meet, is comprised of senior officials from across the Department including ambassadors posted in the Middle East. In co-operation with the Department of Defence, hostile environment awareness training was carried out online for all staff in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The security unit from the Department visited the embassy in Tel Aviv and the representative office in Ramallah in the occupied Palestinian territories from 22 October to 24 October. This visit facilitated the delivery of essential materials, consultation with all staff members, a risk assessment and preparation of evacuation plans. I am in ongoing contact with the Chief of Staff, and the Department of Defence is kept appraised of all developments in those areas in which Defence Forces personnel are deployed. Military management has stated that all Defence Forces personnel are maintaining a high level of vigilance and continue to monitor the developing situation in their respective mission areas.
My Department will analyse carefully the decision of the International Court of Justice, following the recent hearing, regarding any provisional measures. We will continue to consult closely with our international partners. Following this analysis and consultations, the Government will consider whether to seek permission to intervene.
The debate we had here has been interesting. The Irish Government has been clear, just as in other cases, that we will consider this case properly and rigorously and in the right way. The spin that is put on things is amazing, even this morning listening to what I would consider a rather distorted presentation of what transpired. The provisional measures should be announced by the court tomorrow. That is our latest information. I will just explain that it is not an order. It is responding to a request for provisional measures by South Africa. That is where we now are in the process of that case. It is not correct to say that Ireland or anybody else has decided not to join. That is not correct. I am not saying Deputy Berry is saying that. I am just giving that bit of information.
I understand and I thank the Tánaiste for the update. I was not aware that tomorrow was likely-----
That is my understanding.
I agree with the sentiments expressed. The concept I am trying to introduce is that there are consequences to our actions. I am not sure that has been factored into the debate over the past number of weeks. We should always be mindful of the second and third order effects. We do not want to compromise our other vital operations in the Middle East. I know South Africa has no troops in the Middle East. It has withdrawn its embassy. It is not dependent on the Israeli state for host nation support. The last thing we want to do is take measures that would adversely impact on our people out there. There are times when we should accept the consequences of our actions and additional risk, but that should be for material and positive effect on the ground. We should not be accepting additional risk unnecessarily for political expediency or for optics. I would be grateful for the Tánaiste's thoughts.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy, in the sense that Ireland is heavily engaged on the ground, both through our troops in Lebanon and our representative office in Ramallah. We have an embassy in Tel Aviv. We have embassies in Egypt and Jordan. We have people on the ground who engage. There are two ways to approach this. You can go off and be isolationist and attack everybody. That is fine. It is legitimate to do that but not engage. Successive Irish governments have always historically chosen to engage, to try to change minds and opinions. It is interesting that the dial is turning in the European Union on this space from where we were in the beginning. We were one of the first countries to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. That is now the majority opinion of European Union member states. It is a small minority which does not want an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. There are positives, but it is not as politically advantageous in the short term. I sense that the debate in Ireland is sometimes about trying to debate who is better than the other person. Looking in externally there is no question internationally of how people perceive Ireland in terms of the Middle East. Ireland is perceived to be pro-Palestinian in the sense that we want a Palestinian state, and also in how we really work hard for the adherence to international humanitarian law.
I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I also agree. If Ireland's response is part of a wider grouping like the EU or the international community I anticipate there would be no adverse effects. However, if we choose to go unilaterally we must expect consequences. In a similar vein there is also the question of sanctions if Ireland were to unilaterally sanction Israel. Has any assessment been done on what the response of the current Israeli Government would be? I use "current Israeli Government" carefully. Would it likely slap sanctions on Ireland as a result? Would other countries take a dim view and do something similar, and would there be an adverse impact to Ireland from international corporations? I am not saying we should or should not. I am just weighting up the options and letting people know there are other factors at play that they may not yet have considered.
For many years, the issue of sanctions has been at EU level because of the collective weight of the EU in any given situation. We obviously weigh up the impact of sanctions to make sure they can be effective in changing policy, or in articulating our opposition to bad acts such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. What is positive is that now under active discussion is the idea of sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. I would not have thought that possible six months ago. Ireland has strongly pushed for that at EU level, and will continue to do so. I am hopeful that will materialise at the EU Council meeting. I think that is an effective approach. I have concerns about Lebanon and the need to avoid regional escalation. As part of our efforts in the past two weeks I went to Berlin to meet with the German foreign minister. We met with the Arab states on Monday, and with the Israeli foreign minister. I made it very clear there has to be avoidance of regional escalation, but there are no guarantees with the Israeli position on Lebanon, which I find worrying and concerning.
