Written Answers. - Parliamentary Debates - Houses of the Oireachtas

[Deputy Eamon Gilmore.]
Questions— 14 February 2012. Written Answers
mistreatment by Israeli authorities. Mr. Adnan was originally detained on 17 December and is
at present held in a civilian hospital in Israel where he is being attended by civilian medical
staff, not by military or prison doctors. He has been visited on four occasions so far by the
International Committee of the Red Cross. I am however concerned that his hunger strike may
now be reaching the point where his health could be seriously endangered. We have raised this
case with our partners at EU level in Israel, and are monitoring the situation closely.
Unfortunately, States facing serious terrorist threat sometimes have to enact emergency
powers, and it cannot be denied that Israel faces such threats. But any such powers should be
as minimal as possible, carefully safeguarded and in accordance with international law. The
present requirement in Israel is that detention orders be regularly renewed, and the evidence
on which they are sought presented to the judge.
Nonetheless, and particularly in a situation where the Palestinian population live under permanent
military rule, there is a clear risk of the abuse of such powers. I am concerned that
detention orders, rather than an extraordinary measure only applied in the most exceptional
cases, are used as part of the broader system of control of Palestinians and of legitimate protest
as well as violent action. Nor can it be right that such detention orders be renewed indefinitely,
without a case coming to trial. I therefore support the call of NGOs and others that this practice
be brought to an end.
Ireland and our EU partners have represented these views to the Israeli authorities for some
time, and the number of cases of administrative detention has fallen during that period. We
will continue to press on this issue.
Diplomatic Representation
129. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
the amount that has been spent on Irish embassies, by location, for each of the past five
years. [8025/12]
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Eamon Gilmore): Our Missions
abroad are involved in a wide range of activities which include representing and advancing
government policies with other States and in international organisations; economic and cultural
promotion; frontline consular and passport services to Irish citizens overseas; engaging with
Irish communities and harnessing the resource they offer in assisting economic recovery; and
managing programmes, particularly in Irish Aid priority countries The budget of each overseas
Mission for 2007 to 2011 is provided in the table below. These budgets are considered to be
the locally-devolved administrative budget, including local staff salaries but not salaries of
diplomatic staff, which are a charge on the Headquarters budget. Likewise, my Department’s
small capital budget is not allocated to missions on an ongoing basis but is managed from Headquarters.
The Missions highlighted in bold manage significant programmes on behalf of Irish Aid,
funded from Vote 29. These budgets reflect the additional management and oversight required
for the effective implementation of those important programmes.
Administrative Budget for Mission
2007 € 2008 € 2009 € 2010 € 2011 €
— — 429,990 600,261 466,900
ABUJA 260,424 548,135 372,660 556,374 267,599
ADDIS ABABA 1,199,888 1,064,185 898,000 898,685 747,137
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