Mr. Alan Shatter:

I will be very brief. The importation of €685,000 of goods over a period of five years is entrenching absolutely nothing. It is a thing of complete irrelevance. In the context of the other issues that have been raised, the perception that the Chairman referred to derives from the focus, as stated by the Chief Rabbi and Maurice Cohen, on Israel, and the fact that this committee and the Houses do not prioritise calling in the Iranian Government. Apart from calling for the release of hostages, they do nothing about it. There has never been a call from these Houses for the Red Cross to visit hostages in Gaza. There has never been an expression of critique because Hamas does not allow that. The macabre spectacle presented on the release of hostages who looked like concentration camp victims elicited no reaction from any member of this committee. If the members believe we are being harsh by saying there is a perception that this Bill is antisemitic, they should note that the perception derives from the one-sided approach to this horrible conflict.

I come back to one specific fact about which I will say no more tonight unless somebody asks me about it. It has been a fact since 7 October 2023.

If Hamas had released all the hostages, this conflict would have been over long ago. It is being normalised within the Irish political system that men, women and children would be retained as hostages and negotiating cards and that they would be kept in tunnels and starved. This is why there is a perception of a lack of balance and antisemitism. I reiterate that the one fact which drives many families in Israel to distraction is that the hostages have now been kept for 646 days and we are talking about the export of minuscule numbers of olives and avocados as if it is the most important issue in the world.