Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise but I will have to leave the meeting after my contribution. I am conscious of the need to put information into the public domain. I do not want to overuse the Dunnes Stores strike example but it is my genuine belief that in that case people switched from just looking for the best value oranges or products to actually looking at where those products came from. It was a very important moment in our history. Deputy Shanahan made a good point on what role we might have in putting that sort of information into the public domain. I share what I think is his belief in that once people know, are informed and have the information, they will come down on the side of the Palestinian people. I cannot see how they would not.

The EU position on the databases dates from 2016.

Obviously, a lot has happened since then. Is it possible to revisit that position? Would there by any value in doing so? Belgium and other countries have come out in support of the database. Is there anything the committee could advise the Government to do in this regard? That is a decision for the committee to make at a later date. This might be a case where the people are, in the main, ahead of most politicians. The committee may be able to use its position to advise the Government to follow the lead of Belgium. From that would come a really necessary mainstream conversation. I have been to many pro-Palestinian meetings, protests and so on during my time working for a union and up to now. We have to stop speaking to ourselves and begin speaking to the public on this issue. It is a message to which many people would be very receptive. The strike evidenced that. I refer to the fact that people in local shops are checking from where the products they purchase come. That is certainly the case in my local shop. It is important to make as much of that information as possible available. Is there value in the committee deciding at a later stage to engage with the Government and request that it follow the lead of Belgium and other countries, given that there does not seem to be a significant amount of hostility from the Government towards doing so?

I am mindful of the comments of Senator Gavan. We know from where the blockages are coming. It would be silly not to acknowledge that we know it comes specifically from one party, but with support from the other two parties in government. I will not give a free pass to those two parties. Is there value in Ireland doing what Belgium has done? Would that be a worthwhile endeavour? I wish to take from this meeting actions that the committee can consider.