Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

My main question is about Palestine but I will briefly ask about the united Ireland issue. I agree with having the committee but if we want to further the drive towards Irish unity, we need to immediately separate church and State, get our schools and hospitals out of the hands of the Catholic Church and do something about the appalling lack of a universal, proper national health service that does not have people queuing for years on lists. In general, we need to improve social services, especially in the areas of housing. This would make the prospect of unity attractive and would be the best preparation to forward the struggle for Irish unity.

On Palestine, I am aware there were some discussions about the outrageous moves by the Trump Administration to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in what was a flagrant provocation of the entire Arab world and the Palestinian population. It reinforced even further the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and the illegal occupations of the West Bank by settlers. Is the Taoiseach willing to follow the example of Denmark? Whenever we ask why the Irish Government does not unilaterally show a bit of backbone on the issue of Palestine, recognise the state of Palestine and boycott Israel for what under international law and UN security resolutions is illegal activity in Jerusalem and the West Ban, the Government always hides behind the European Union. The Irish Government states it cannot do anything because Ireland is tied into the foreign policy of the European Union. Denmark, however, has proven that this is not the case. This month, Denmark has made a decision to boycott any companies that have any involvement whatsoever in the occupied territories. If Denmark can do it then we can do it. We should do it immediately. It is simply unconscionable how countries in Europe that claim to uphold human rights can stand by while Israel flagrantly acts in defiance of international law and flouts the human rights of Palestinian people in the occupied territories. Will the Taoiseach respond on whether we could follow the lead of Denmark and take independent, unilateral action to boycott Israel for its actions in the occupied territories?

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