Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will make two short points. It is always good to acknowledge good news because everybody needs good news. The good news today is that the Minister is waiving all fees for outdoor furniture. When we have good news, we should celebrate. This is on top of the fact that during Covid, I brought to the parliamentary party the suggestion that we should do better to support small businesses. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, heard the call and funded businesses to the tune of €4,000 per business, if they needed awnings, outdoor furniture, windbreaks, screens, plant stands and wooden platforms. Some €13.55 million was given to more than 4,600 businesses that drew down that funding. That is something we should acknowledge. Part two of the scheme is the local authority weatherproofing and outdoor dining enhancement scheme of more than €9 million, €186,000 of which Ennis town got.

We are starting to turn into a Trumpism world where it is said that all of the Government is evil and only people outside Leinster House care. However, this is a very good Government initiative. We have reclaimed space for people, including older people and breast-feeding mothers, who need to sit down. We need to look at our spaces. We gave grants out and more than 4,600 businesses got very good money to put up spaces for people. As a result of that uptake, the Minister is now waiving the fees businesses would have to pay on an annual basis. That is something good and positive the Government is doing.

I cannot come to the House any more without, as a national representative, raising the issue of Gaza. It is very important for the people of Ireland to hear us call out and do all we can as Government representatives because they do not have the same voice we do. I used my voice in Geneva and at the UN in New York. We are now calling for an emergency meeting of the Council of Europe. Senator O'Loughlin and I are members of that council. It is important for people to know that we are trying to do all we can. It is past time for Palestine to take its rightful place among the nations of the world. We fully support Palestinian membership of the UN. The conflict in Gaza and the broader occupation of Palestine is a persistent source of regional instability as well as deeply upsetting on a whole new level for the people of this country.

The Government is co-ordinating efforts with European states to recognise Palestine as a state. Alongside other national bodies, the Spanish and Irish Governments are trying to drive a European-wide movement to recognise Palestine. It is an integral part of the two-state solution, which, speaking for everybody here, we all want. To give people hope, I do not think there is a politician on any side of the House who is not trying every week and every day to come up with other things the political parties and the country can do to stop this madness in any small way we can. Anytime we travel abroad, we raise the issue. Our Ministers raise it with fellow ministers in other countries. We are trying our best. It is obviously not enough because the war continues and is deeply saddening. I express my support for all the people who have taken to the streets and who are constantly fundraising for all the amazing charities. We have to commend those people.