Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I have no difficulty in accepting the sincerity of the Minister's position on Gaza. However, reports in the Israeli press suggest Ireland, with Switzerland and Norway, initially had reservations about voting for the acceptance of Israel into the OECD but that in the end, like what happened in respect of the United States-India nuclear non-proliferation agreement, they caved in. The Secretary General of the OECD has said all of this is justified and will contribute to a more pluralist and open OECD. I take him to mean that when it comes to moral issues or issues of occupation such as how one handles the question of what is produced in the settlement of the Occupied Territories on the West Bank, the OECD will always look the other way and take the short-term economic argument as opposed to the politically moral one.

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