I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 45 together.
I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No 31 on 15 May on this topic, and also to my address to a Topical Issues debate on 9 May and my more detailed statement during Statements on Palestine on 15 May, all dealing specifically with this issue.
A central element of my response in those contributions was to call for an independent and transparent investigation of the events in Gaza. At my instruction, Ireland last week co-sponsored a motion at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling for a Special Session of the Council to discuss these events. At that Special Session on 18 May Ireland supported a resolution which inter-alia provided for the establishment of an independent Commission of Inquiry into what happened and why. Ireland does not currently sit on the Council and so did not have a vote. The resolution was adopted and the Commission will now be established.
I have also requested that the events in Gaza be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on 28 May.