9. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the Government's position on the Paris protocol and its operational applicability to economic relations between Palestine and Israel. [52144/26]

The Protocol on Economic Relations or the 'Paris Protocol' was an agreement concluded in 1994 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and subsequently incorporated into the Oslo II Accord the following year.

More than thirty years later, the interim arrangements set out in that Protocol continue to be applicable. The Protocol provides that Israel collects customs revenues, VAT and certain other taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority which it then transfers to the Palestinian Ministry of Finance, following the deduction of a 3% administration fee.

Palestine’s economic dependence on Israel for the collection and transfer of tax revenues has been exploited by Israel’s partial implementation of the Protocol and withholding transferring Palestinian tax clearance revenues. Israel has not transferred any Palestinian tax revenues since April 2025 and the total amount withheld is now estimated to be close to USD$3 billion.

Ireland is deeply concerned about attempts to suffocate the Palestinian economy. Israel must release in full the withheld Palestinian tax clearance revenues to the Palestinian Authority and take all necessary measures to ensure that correspondent banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks remain in place.

Ireland has been clear that the progress that the Palestinian Authority has made on reforms is being continually undermined by Israel, including through the continued withholding of tax clearance revenue.

There is strong consensus at EU and international level that Israel must release revenues withheld from the Palestinian Authority. I intend to raise this issue again at the second meeting of the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels which I will attend on 13 July.