Incident raised by Andrews

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, yesterday raised the Haifa pilgrims issue with his Israeli counterpart, Mr David Levy, who was here for a meeting with EU foreign ministers.

Mr Levy said he had been in touch with Tel Aviv since their meeting and the authorities were "doing all in their power to see that they do not belong to a dangerous group which is coming to commit suicide in Israel". He said once the checks were made, he was hopeful there would be a solution. Mr Levy insisted "this is not an action against Ireland".

Mr Andrews said he had expressed concern about the difficulties the group was having. They were not part of any sect and had been vouched for by the Bishop of Ferns, he told Mr Levy.

Mr Andrews said he was "seriously concerned the matter could cause damage to relations between the two countries".

Meanwhile, Mr Levy, who was in Luxembourg to mark the establishment of a new EU-Israel forum, was asked by journalists about the implications of the Austrian election for bilateral relations between Israel and Austria.

Mr Levy made it clear if the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, Mr Jorg Haider, were to become part of the next government, Israel would review its diplomatic ties with Vienna.

The choice of who was in government was a matter for the Austrian people, he said, "but we also have a prerogative to decide on our relations with a different Austria".