Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

I thank the guests for being here. I observe two things at the outset, to respond to Mr. Cohen's statements. It is important to put on the record I abhor antisemitism and I regret very much if there are people from the Jewish community who have felt any increase to that in recent years. It is wrong and it should absolutely be the case the Jewish community feels welcome and a part of Irish society. It is not right for anyone to put responsibility for the actions of the Israeli Government on individual Jewish people in Israel. It is vitally important to put that on the record.

I agree with the point that has been made by several speakers, and what Mr. Shatter said is incorrect that there has been no legislation which has dealt with occupied territories in other locations. The previous legislation, which was far superior legislation and was authored by Senator Frances Black, would conceivably have captured issues in occupied territories in any place across the world. There is much to recommend such an approach. This would have included Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, Russian-occupied Crimea and Turkish-occupied Cyprus. It is important to put that on the record.

My first question is for Mr. Shatter and it is one in the abstract. Does he accept Ireland is bound by customary international law?