Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Liston and Mr. O’Neill, with a special word of thanks to Senator Black. We are all in an awful lot of communication in and around these Houses on this debate, and in media. This is an important session in terms of this Bill, and we would not be here if it was not for this Bill that the Senator brought in in 2018. I acknowledge and thank her for that. We still have a bit of a ways to go but she has done unbelievable work to get it this far. It has not been easy, and it has been a long road.

I will focus on some of the conversation around this Bill politically and some of the critics of this Bill. The Senator and I shared a media panel in recent months with someone who said that this was unimportant, it would make no difference, no one was paying attention and, sure, what are you at in Ireland anyway. Based on what the Senator’s experience drafting and leading on this Bill for the past seven years indicates, what kind of engagement has she had with other countries? What are they saying about this Bill? What is their view of this in the context of the conflict and in context of the solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine?