Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is "unprecedented", "dire", "an exodus". These are some of the words used to describe the chronic teacher shortage, with new research showing 800 vacant primary teaching posts across the State. The situation is set to worsen, with vacancies expected to hit 1,200 in the near future. A staggering 66% of these vacancies are in the greater Dublin area and the impact is being felt disproportionately in poorer communities, with nearly half of disadvantaged schools reporting vacancies in permanent posts. The price is being paid by vulnerable children going far too long without the important supports they need. Many schools have been forced to redeploy special education teachers to mainstream classes.

The seeds of this problem were sown by the austerity cuts inflicted on teachers by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over a decade ago. This latest research underscores that the ability of teachers to build a good life has been hit hard by the housing crisis. On the watch of this Government house prices remain sky-high and rip-off rents continue to soar. Here in Dublin, where the teacher shortage is most particularly acute, the average selling price of a typical semi-detached house hit more than €500,000 this year, while the average rent in Dublin tops €2,300 per month. This is off-the-wall stuff. This grim situation is reflected across the country. Teachers cannot afford to rent or buy a home near their work so they are voting with their feet and moving abroad to take advantage of opportunities they are denied at home. Thousands of teachers say the only way they can move out of their parents' home is to emigrate. As the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, took the stage at the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, congress last April, delegates held signs aloft which read "Teachers can't afford the rent" and "Build affordable and social housing" but clearly the Government did not get the message. It continues to miss the inadequate targets it set for affordable and social housing, refuses to ban extortionate rent hikes and refuses to provide the level of investment needed to tackle the scale of this housing emergency.

Fine Gael has been in power for 12 years, backed to the hilt by Fianna Fáil for seven years, and the housing crisis has gone from bad to worse. Change is now needed more than ever. Tonight, Sinn Féin will bring before the Dáil its plan to fix the housing crisis by building genuinely affordable homes, cutting rents and banning rent increases. I am asking every Deputy to back this motion and give a generation locked out of affordable housing the chance it deserves.

Níl ann ach léiriú ar an bhfadhb maidir le ganntanas imníoch múinteoirí seo ar ghéarchéim tithíochta atá ag éirí níos measa i rith an ama. Tá múinteoirí ag dul ar imirce mar nach bhfuil siad in ann teach ar phraghas réasúnta a cheannach nó teach a fháil ar cíos gar dá n-obair. Caithfidh an Rialtas dul i ngleic leis an ngéarchéim ar an bpointe boise.

The dire shortage of teachers is down to a serious deterioration in the living standards of teachers, including, and especially, their inability to put an affordable roof over their heads.

What action will the Minister, Deputy Foley, take to address these teacher shortages? How will the Government address the housing needs of these teachers?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. First of all, the Government and the Minister for Education are very aware of shortages of teachers affecting many schools around the country. We know that from time to time - too frequently - it means a special education teacher being assigned to a regular class and that impacts negatively on the child with special education needs. We understand there is a very real issue here. It is important to see it against a backdrop in which the number of teaching posts has increased considerably, the pupil-teacher ratio is as low as it has ever been and the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council, far from having gone down, has in fact gone up in recent years. It must be seen in the context of a country that is now experiencing full employment. That is a great thing - a job for everyone who wants one - but, of course, it can have negative consequences too. It is not that staff shortages are unique to education; far from it. If the Deputy talks to any employer anywhere in the country, they will tell her how difficult it is to recruit and retain staff. It is the public sector and private sector, big business and small business, and well-paid jobs and poorly paid jobs. We will not properly understand the problems we face if that is not understood and fully acknowledged.

In terms of pay and conditions for public servants, such as teachers, they are negotiated between unions and the Government. We have a pay deal. It was voted for by teachers in good numbers and was implemented and resulted in a pay rise, most recently in October. Negotiations will begin in the next couple of weeks with public sector unions around the next round of pay increases. I am confident we will come to an agreement and that will go to a ballot of public servants, including teachers, as soon as an agreement can be made.

When it comes to the housing situation and the housing shortage more generally, this is a Government that is making real progress. I know the Deputy will struggle to acknowledge it but nobody can deny the facts we are seeing on the ground - the new homes and apartments being built all over the country. Just look at the numbers. In the past 12 months, we have numbers suggesting 30,000 or more new homes being built. That is 50% more than when this Government came to office, more than double the number when I became Taoiseach in 2017 and four times the number being built when my party came to office in 2011. You can only ramp up house building so quickly, unless you do not want to build houses properly. If you want to build houses and apartments properly, you can only ramp it up so quickly. It has quadrupled since 2011, is up 50% since this Government came to office and will go higher again next year.

What is particularly encouraging is to see a huge increase in the number of first-time buyers, with more than 500 first-time buyers a week now drawing down their mortgage. Of course, the real figure is much higher because we count couples as one when we look at those numbers. We have not seen that in 16 years. My concern with the Deputy's party is it wants to roll the clock back on that. It wants to take away the help we are providing for first-time buyers like those young teachers she mentioned. Most of them want to buy; they do not want to have to rent for too long. The Deputy's party wants to take that help away. It wants to take away the first-time buyer's grant, the first home scheme and so much help that is out there now for first-time buyers. They would be worse off under Sinn Féin and that is clear to anyone who looks at the facts.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We do not want to do that at all. What I would like the Taoiseach to do is-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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You do.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Yes, you do, Deputy.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputies, please.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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No heckling.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is misleading the House.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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-----to answer the question I put to him. There are currently 800 vacant posts in primary schools. That is set to hit 1,200. That is a problem, I think we can agree. The teaching union is telling us directly that this is related to housing and the fact that teachers cannot afford to rent or buy a home close to where they work. I have asked the Taoiseach what he will do about that. His views on Sinn Féin are a matter for himself but they are not addressing this question. The teachers do not care about that. They want to know what is going to happen to make it possible for young teachers to take up these posts and ensure children get the education they need but the Taoiseach has come back with zilch. In the end, that is the problem with this whole housing debate. We could talk about nurses and the whole economy but we are talking about the teaching profession here.

When it comes right down to it, despite the evidence of failure, and everything the Taoiseach recited is half of what is needed, he cannot seem to accept even that there is a problem, much less offer solutions. Let me put the question again. What will the Taoiseach and Minister for Education do about these shortages to make homes available for these teachers?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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To answer the Deputy's question, we will do three things. There will be a new pay deal which we will negotiate with teachers and public servants in the next few weeks. We are building more than 30,000 new homes this year and not objecting to them in the way the Deputy's party and her representatives do.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will also increase the rent credit to €750 a year per renter, which is €1,500 for a couple and more than that if there are more than two people sharing.

I wish to put on the record of the House that the Deputy, the leader of Sinn Féin, misled the House.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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She said that she did not want to take away-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To attack-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----the help-to-buy and first home schemes.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not what she said.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is Sinn Féin's policy to remove the help-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not what she said.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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She did. She just said it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----that this Government is giving first-time buyers.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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This is all diversionary.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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She wants-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Pushing up house prices does not help first-time buyers.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----to make it harder for first-time buyers to buy their first home.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Pushing up house prices-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Everybody needs to know that.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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-----does not help first-time buyers. The Taoiseach knows that.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Today marks the one-month anniversary of the brutal Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,400 people were killed, 1,000 were injured and at least 243 people were kidnapped. We now know an Irish-Israeli girl, eight-year-old Emily Hand, is among those who were kidnapped. I know everyone in this House is hoping for Emily's safe return and the safe and swift return of all hostages.

Israel has a right to defend itself from attack but what is happening in Gaza is not a defence; it is an annihilation. The entire strip is being reduced to death and dust. The scale of the devastation is unprecedented. Nowhere is safe. UN schools, hospitals, media centres, bakeries and residential buildings have all been deliberately targeted by Israeli missiles. More than 10,000 people have been killed in just a month, including more than 4,000 children, 89 UN workers and 39 journalists. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced. More than 2 million people are being denied the essentials to sustain life - food, water and fuel.

The ambivalent response of the international community to this litany of war crimes is shameful. The UN Security Council is toothless, the UN General Assembly is powerless and the EU is rudderless. Ireland is one of only a small number of countries in the West which has even condemned Israel's multiple breaches of international law. Words of condemnation are important but they are not enough. Words must be followed by action. In this country, enacting the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill is now a matter of urgency. The EU must also act. It is Israel's largest trading partner, with trade between the two amounting to more than €46 billion. Trade is governed by the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which has an essential elements human rights clause in it. This means that either side can unilaterally suspend the agreement in response to serious breaches of human rights. If Israel's destruction in Gaza is not sufficient to trigger that clause now, then nothing ever will be. Israel is also a participant in Horizon Europe, where Israeli institutions can apply for funding under this €95 billion research and innovation scheme. Access to that lucrative programme should also be immediately suspended.

The Taoiseach has publicly stated that Israel is breaching international law. This is not just a violation of its human rights obligations; it is a clear contravention of its trade deal with the EU. There must be consequences for that. I have three questions. Does the Taoiseach agree that the EU's trade deal with Israel should be suspended until Israel complies with international law? Does he agree that Israel's participation in Horizon Europe should also be suspended on similar terms? Will he enact the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill as a matter of urgency?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland condemns the attack by Hamas and other militant groups on Israel and the devastating loss of life that it has caused. Attacks on civilians and the taking of hostages is always wrong.

Israel's right to defend itself, indeed its obligation to defend itself, must be exercised within the parameters of international humanitarian law. All parties in all conflicts must abide by international humanitarian law. Its aim is to protect civilians everywhere. It applies in all conflicts, in all circumstances and to state and non-state actors alike. The situation in Gaza is now critical. It is a deepening humanitarian crisis. The high number of civilian casualties, particularly children, is deeply shocking. The protection of civilians and de-escalation must be the priority, which is why Ireland has called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow hostages to be released, to allow foreign passport holders to leave, and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. We are engaging with the European Union, the United Nations and our regional partners to try to achieve this and in all cases we are calling for a de-escalation.

Regarding trade deals such as the EU trade agreement with Israel, as well as the Horizon programme, these matters are European competences on which Ireland cannot and should not act alone. These are issues we have to discuss at European level and can only possibly be agreed at European level. The truth is that there is a very significant divergence of opinion within the European Union. While we were able to agree on a common statement in Brussels last week, and we all stand by that, the truth is that there are very different views. Very different members states come from very different perspectives on this and that needs to be understood. Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic are coming from a particular perspective. Other countries that have experienced serious terrorist attacks at the hands of other Islamic resistance movements also have a particular perspective on this, and we have a particular perspective on it. It is a good thing that we are a member of the European Union for so many different reasons, because we have a seat at the table. We do have a say when decisions are being made. The position we are at, however, at a European level now is nowhere near taking actions of that nature against Israel. What we are trying to do is to use our seat at the EU table to recentre and rebalance the EU's position and to particularly bring the EU to a position where we are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in order that the hostages can be released, foreign passport holders can get out, the killing stops and humanitarian aid can get in.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Israel is committing blatant abuses of international law every single second in Gaza. Palestinian civilians are trapped in the world's largest open-air prison, a prison that their jailer is indiscriminately dropping bombs on. More than 25,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza in the past month. When a missile strikes and buildings collapse, there is no fuel or machinery, or anything to dig out the men, women and children who are buried under the rubble. The people who survive the initial strikes are slowly dying under mountains of rubble.

The stench of death is everywhere in Gaza and still the bombs rain down. As we all know that Netanyahu's far-right Government has no intention of stopping this, we must do whatever we can to stop this massacre. That means using every means at our disposal to exert whatever influence we can. I know that around the Israel-EU trade agreement, that would happen at an EU level and that is why I am raising this with the Taoiseach to see if he will raise it at the next European Council meeting, to request the suspension of Israel's trade deal with the EU on the basis of its breach of the clear and unambiguous human rights clause in that agreement.

That is at EU level. At a national level we could introduce the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. There are several things the Taoiseach could do and given what is going on, will the Taoiseach please address those two particular issues in his reply?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. We will do all we can as a country to try to bring an end to this conflict and to try to ensure there is peace with justice, so that both Israelis and Palestinians can live in secure and viable states. However, we are so far away from that at the moment. The priority now has to be a humanitarian ceasefire so that hostages can be released, so that foreign citizens can leave, so that we can get humanitarian aid in and, most of all, so that the killing can stop. We are using our influence at EU level and UN level to do the best we can to secure that. We have also significantly increased our contribution in terms of humanitarian aid to Palestine. As I said, when it comes to any trade issues, they are European competences and not something we can act on, nor should we act on, alone. The EU position has evolved in the past couple of weeks.

I hope it will evolve again. The main thing we need to get the EU behind, and it is not yet behind, is the call for a humanitarian ceasefire and that will be what we will be pushing at the next meeting of the European Council.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Grealish on behalf of the Regional Group.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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First, on my own behalf and that of my Regional Group colleagues, could I offer our condolences to Deputy Verona Murphy, whose father, Patrick, passed away suddenly this morning? May his gentle soul rest in peace.

Four out of five burglars released from prison in Ireland go on to re-offend within a short period - more than half of them within a year of their release. It is the same with people jailed for public order offences. Four out of five of them are back before the courts within three years of them being released. Their victims, the very people they robbed from and whose lives they have seriously disrupted, have to pay for these criminals to get a proper defence, as does every other law-abiding taxpayer in this country. Last year, the bill to the taxpayer for providing free legal aid in criminal cases was more than €76 million. In the past seven years, we have paid out in excess of €450 million in free legal aid. A large portion of this money is being spent on defending the indefensible - people who have no regard for the law or the consequences of their actions, who have broken the law on countless occasions and who know that every time that they are caught they will get the best defence in court without it costing them one red cent.

In the past when I have raised the issue of withholding free legal aid to persistent offenders who have broken the law on countless occasions, I have been informed that this would be constitutionally impossible. In that case, we should change the law so that these repeat offenders, often with hundreds of convictions behind them, must over a period at least repay the cost of providing that legal aid. That is to say we should be deducting from the pay they get from their employers until the debt is repaid. In the case of those drawing social welfare, the same should be done. A certain amount of money should be withheld from their weekly payments. Hitting them where it hurts is the only way that I can see it making these repeat offenders think twice. They are making a mockery of the law and there is never any compensation for the victim of their crimes. If they get caught, it is the taxpayer, including the very people whom they have victimised, who have to pay for them to be defended in court. The current legislation programme includes a new criminal justice (legal aid) Bill under which it is proposed to update and strengthen the system of granting criminal legal aid. Will the Taoiseach commit to include in that legislation changes that would require defendants with a record of persistent offending to be forced to pay back the cost of free legal aid provided to them?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and join with him in offering condolences to Deputy Verona Murphy. I had not heard about her father passing on. All our thoughts are with her today.

I thank Deputy Grealish for raising this issue. It is a matter of enormous annoyance to people that those who have multiple convictions, who have a history of recidivism, get legal aid paid for by the State which is, of course, paid for by the taxpayer. Many people who I meet regularly raise this issue; the frustration in seeing people committing crimes on bail and in seeing people who have a long criminal record having their solicitor and barrister paid for by the taxpayer and I understand where the Deputy is coming from. However, we have a Constitution and we operate on the basis that people are innocent until proven guilty. Even if somebody has been found guilty twice or three times, that does not necessarily mean that he or she is guilty on every occasion. That is the principle that we have, namely,the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. As has been said centuries ago, better that two or three guilty men should go free than one innocent man be convicted unfairly or inappropriately.

The Deputy touched on the possibility of recouping some of the cost from people who have been convicted, not making the presumption that they may or may not be guilty, but if they receive legal aid and are subsequently found guilty, whether some of the cost could be recouped. That is definitely an idea worth exploring in context of the criminal legal aid Bill and I will certainly raise that with the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and see if it is possible.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach. Under the new Bill, somebody applying for free legal aid may be asked to contribute towards the cost of his or her defence if the Legal Aid Board decides he or she can afford it but too many of the repeat offenders I am talking about will be well capable of hiding their ill-gotten gains.

I would like to see the Bill requiring those persistent criminals with a certain number of convictions behind them to repay the costs of their defence over time, be it from wages or future social welfare payments. The principle of deducting a portion of social welfare payments is already established in the case of overpayments with up to 15% taken from the personal weekly rate until the money is paid back. This should also be done for the defence costs of serial offenders. The taxpayer should no longer have to suffer the indignity of paying out hard-earned money for free legal aid. The laws governing the provision of free legal aid to persistent offenders simply have to change and change radically.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Work to modernise and improve the operation of the criminal legal aid scheme is under way as part of the criminal justice (legal aid) Bill, which is being drafted at present. It is intended that as part of this modernisation, the Bill will update the court application and eligibility process and in appropriate cases, the applicant may be subject to an assessment of means. Following this assessment, the Legal Aid Board will be able to recommend to the court that the applicant can make a contribution to the cost of providing legal aid. However, the Constitution obliges that the State provide an accused person with the means to obtain appropriate legal representation and the European Convention on Human Rights also provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend himself or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing or if he or she has insufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require. Therefore, the criminal legal aid scheme must operate with due regard to these rights.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Táim chun filleadh ar ábhar Gaza agus ar an ár atá ar siúl faoi láthair, ár a thosaigh ar an lá seo mí ó shin agus ár a chuir Hamas tús leis nuair a maraíodh 1,400 duine. Tá sé sin cáinte go láidir agam ach tá Iosrael anois tar éis leanúint ar aghaidh leis an ár atá á dhéanamh aige ar feadh míosa. Tá sé ráite ag António Guterres gurb ionann Gaza agus reilig do ghasúir. Tá páiste beag, buachaill nó cailín, ag fáil bás chuile deich nóiméad. Dar le Guterres, is géarchéim dhaonnúil é an tromluí atá ag tarlú i nGaza ach, níos measa fós, is géarchéim don chine daonna iad na himpleachtaí a bhaineann leis an rud atá ag tarlú.

I praise the Taoiseach for leadership in calling out what is happening with regard to Israel. It was a little belated but it has happened and the Taoiseach has done that and shown leadership at a time when it is needed but we need to do a lot more. I am standing here today a month after the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis, which I am on record as condemning. I am equally on record for condemning what Israel has done, which is totally against international law, disproportionate and unacceptable on any level. In one month, we have lost 4,237 children, which is one child every ten minutes. This is not self defence. This is not a defence army. It is a warmongering army. We have lost 10,328 Palestinians in total, 37 journalists and 89 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, with approximately 25,408 people injured, not to mention the 1.5 million people who have been displaced and so on. There has been indiscriminate bombing of civilians, homes, hospitals, refugee camps and schools, which is entirely against international humanitarian law.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has said that Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. He said:

The nightmare for Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.

I am asking for us to use our voice. We cannot wait for Europe to mature and get its act together. We need to use our voices to call for an immediate ceasefire to stop the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, hospitals and houses.

In destroying Hamas, it is destroying Gaza and the Palestinian people. On what level is that acceptable? I ask for the Taoiseach and all of us here to stand together and make it clear to Israel that we are not behind this and will not support it. There are many things that can be done. Deputy Cairns has mentioned the trade agreement. That is something the Taoiseach can look at immediately. There is also a resolution at the UN he can look at. Tiocfaidh mé ar ais.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again. I recognise her long-standing interest in the political situation in the Middle East. In seeing what we see on TV news and social media every day, all of us cannot help but be struck by the number of children being killed, children who are often pretty thin and malnourished for other reasons, and by the number of journalists and UN aid workers who have been killed. Those aid workers who stayed behind in Gaza are real heroes having not only risked their lives, but lost them. I have enormous fears. How long is this going to go on? How is this going to end? Will there be an escalation, perhaps involving Hezbollah, Lebanon or other countries or groups around the world? I have great fears in that regard. Furthermore, when the war in Gaza is over, who is going to run Gaza and who is going to rebuild it? I am not sure anyone has answers to these questions and that makes me very concerned about the road the world is currently on. I know the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised "mighty vengeance". Those are his words, not mine. That is valid when it comes to Hamas, the terrorists who killed those 1,400 people in Israel, but it is not when it comes to Palestinian civilians, far too many of whom have already been killed in this conflict.

Ireland is certainly using its voice. The Tánaiste and I are working hard on this, as is the whole Government, at EU and UN level. We have increased our aid budget for Palestine and Gaza and the money we give to the UN. We are also using our voice at the UN, at EU level and in bilateral engagements to press for what is now urgently needed, which is a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid in and to allow hostages to be released. Hamas should release the hostages without any equivocation so that EU citizens and others can be allowed to leave.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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While I praise the Taoiseach for his initiative and leadership, we stood idly by for a long time in relation to Israel and we are complicit in that. When Amnesty released its report in February 2022 stating that Israel was operating an apartheid regime, there was no response from Government. There are many examples. When six human rights organisations were designated as terrorist organisations, apart from condemning the act and expressing concern, we did nothing. When the refugee camp in Jenin was attacked, we did nothing other than express concerns and condemnation. There are things we can do. When the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 was brought before us, the Government went for a pregnancy nine-month adjournment rather than grasping the issue, deal with it and do something practical. It was the same thing with the illegal occupation Bill, whose title escapes me.

If the Ceann Comhairle will allow it, I will quote Amnesty remarks on the report that came out nearly two years ago:

The scale and seriousness of the violations documented in our report make it clear that the international community must drastically change its approach ... Through its failure to take any meaningful action to hold Israel to account for its systematic and widespread violations, and crimes under international law, against the Palestinian population, the international community [including Ireland] has contributed to undermining the international legal order, and has emboldened Israel to continue perpetrating these crimes with impunity. Apartheid is a crime against humanity and the international community has an obligation to hold the perpetrators to account.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I hear what the Deputy is saying but I do not think that is a fair assessment of Ireland's position down through the years.

I mention the engagement I have had with the Palestinian Authority, and with President Abbas, for example, whom I met some years ago. There was a strong acknowledgement from the Palestinian Authority and from Palestinians in general that Irish Governments have consistently, for decades now, been supportive of their cause and their desire to have a state of their own within secure and viable borders. That is recognised. When we were campaigning for a seat on the UN Security Council, the one we won, there was a strong sense from Arab countries that Ireland was one of the countries in the European Union and the West that listened to their concerns and took a balanced position on these matters. The Minister of State at the Departments of Rural and Community Development, Social Protection, and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Joe O'Brien, has met and engaged with some of the groups that the Deputy has mentioned. We have even provided funding for some of those bodies that have been delisted.

Trade is an EU competence and we can only act on a multilateral level when it comes to something that is clearly an EU issue. On the divestment Bill, there is a timed amendment and we need to give that consideration. We have to bear in mind the consequences of singling out one country of 200. Other countries have questions to answer as well and we would have to give that careful consideration too.