Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, Lynn Boylan, has today called on all MEPs – including her fellow Irish MEPs – to vote against an amendment to the report on the EU budget attacking funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The amendment to the report on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025, tabled by EPP, Renew and ECR members, calls for the strengthening of the screenings, checks and audits of all funds given to UNRWA and any of its subcontractors.

It also calls for the diversification of funding of humanitarian aid provided to the Palestinian population, meaning away from UNRWA. It will be voted on next week at the Plenary in Strasbourg.

Boylan said:

“Myself and my colleague Kathleen Funchion MEP will be opposing this amendment and I call on all MEPs and especially Irish MEPs to vote against this amendment. I also call for Irish MEPs in the EPP and Renew Groups to pressure their political groups to oppose this amendment.

“This is the latest in a long line of shameful attacks on UNRWA at a time when their work has never been more important. UNRWA provides essential services to the Palestinian people including education to over half a million students, healthcare to 1.9 million people and support for 5.9 million refugees. They provide these essential services in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

“The amendment tabled by MEPs from the EPP, Renew and ECR groups seeks to further undermine this vital work and ignores the fact that UNRWA already committed in April to implementing the recommendations of the Report of the Independent Review. This is nothing less than another cynical attempt by MEPs to attack the vital work of UNRWA.

“It is particularly cynical given the absolute failure of the European Union to hold Israel to account for flagrant breaches of international law. All MEPs should be working to ensure full respect for and consistency with international law, not pursuing shameless attacks on an organisation providing vital humanitarian support to the Palestinian people.

“I met with UNRWA last week and they were crystal clear that the services they provide are not only vital from a humanitarian perspective but for the educational, social and economic rights of Palestinians.

“This has been a year in which we have witnessed death and destruction in Gaza, escalating violence in the West Bank and the Palestinian people pushed to the absolute brink.

“Attacking and vilifying one of the organisations most needed at the present moment is particularly revealing of the moral and ethical cowardice at the heart of the EU’s response to Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza and the Palestinian people.

“All MEPs must do the right thing next week in Strasbourg and vote down this shameful amendment.”