Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The baseline position of the Irish Government is that we can only bring peace to the region through a two-state solution. That becomes increasingly difficult with every day that passes and every settlement that is built, but we still believe the best and only solution that will bring peace to the region is a two-state solution, and that is the outcome we strongly support. There has to be a willingness on both sides for that to be the case. Deputy McDonald has called out the Prime Minister of Israel and what would appear to be his unwillingness to engage meaningfully in peace talks in the way his predecessors did. Whether it was Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Rabin or Ehud Barak, all sought a two-state solution but it has to come from the other side too and I do not see that leadership in Palestine.

I certainly do not see it from Hamas. Hamas is hell bent on the destruction of Israel, on wiping Israel off the face of the earth. It must change that policy. It must renounce terrorism and violence as a means to achieve its political objectives, just as people did on this island. That is what we expect to see from Hamas.

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