Simon Harris to discuss recognition of the State of Palestine in meeting with Spanish PM

Taoiseach Simon Harris will meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at Government Buildings this afternoon.

It will mark the second time this week that the leaders have held discussions after the pair met yesterday in Warsaw, at a summit hosted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

At that event, Harris said that it was unlikely that there would be an EU-wide approach to recognising the state of Palestine.

The Taoiseach said Ireland would proceed to recognise Palestine with a group of other EU member states, although it was not clear how many that would be.

Ireland and Spain have written a letter to the European Commission chief asking for an “urgent review” of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations. Neither country has had a response yet.

The recognition of the state of Palestine is expected to be at the top of the agenda at the bilateral meeting later today.

Speaking on Thursday Harris said: “He’ll be the first head of government that I will welcome to government buildings, and I look forward to having the opportunity to discussing with Pedro the issue of the recognition of the state of Palestine and broader matters, including that letter,” he said.

On Tuesday, Tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin gave a speech in the Dáil saying he would bring a formal proposal on recognition of a Palestinian state to the Government when "wider international discussions" are complete.

Be in no doubt recognition of a Palestinian state will happen," Mr Martin said.