57. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the Government will actively use the EU Council Presidency to coordinate EU wide action on enforcement of the Paris Protocol, which governs economic relations between Palestine and Israel, and strengthen Palestinian economic sovereignty. [56052/26]

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.

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 have repeatedly raised this issue with my European counterparts, including at the second meeting of the Palestine Donor Group, which I attended on 13 July in Brussels.

The situation in the Middle East, particularly the Israel-Palestine conflict, will remain a key priority during our Presidency. We will reaffirm the EU’s commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-State solution that guarantees the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to self-determination and to live in peace and safety within secure borders.

We will also seek to ensure that focus is maintained on the dire humanitarian needs in Gaza in EU discussions. Equally, we will ensure that the situation in the West Bank, where unilateral actions which threaten the viability of the two-State solution are causing further instability, remains on the EU agenda.