Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be here today to support my colleague, Deputy Niall Collins, and my party in moving this Bill in the Dáil. I commend Senator Frances Black and our colleagues in the Seanad who passed this Bill.

As the Tánaiste is aware, previously when I had the role of Opposition spokesperson on foreign affairs, we engaged specifically on this legislation. I was happy to be involved at the time in the preparation and the first presentation of the Bill. Back then, we afforded time to Government. We afforded over six months for Government to respond to a very simple request. The request was that the Tánaiste would raise the issue of settlement goods with his EU counterparts at the Foreign Affairs Council. I asked him to do this in a letter dated 15 February 2018. In his response the Tánaiste said that a discussion on the Middle East was expected to be on the agenda of the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on 26 February 2018. He said, however, that it was likely that discussion would focus mostly on the preparation for a lunch with the foreign ministers of key Arab states.

Deputy Niall Collins has outlined the matter perfectly. The time for waiting is over now. We have tried to engage and gain agreement on this question. Over 46 separate resolutions from the UN Human Rights Council have been ignored by Israel. This Bill would send a message not only to Israel but to other states that illegally annex territory and seek to benefit from the use and exploitation of such territory. The message is that Ireland will stand and be first to say that is not appropriate, like back in 1980, when the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, the late Brian Lenihan, was the first to propose the two-state solution. There is no reason why Ireland should not lead. I am proud of the track record of my party, Fianna Fáil, in that regard. I am proud to be working with colleagues across the House to pass legislation that will make a difference and that will send a message. We would be the first EU state to do so and others may follow. The time for waiting for a pan-European approach is over at this stage. We have tried that. We tried it with the Tánaiste when we asked him to raise this issue on numerous occasions and when we asked him to work with us on the Bill. That has failed. I am happy to support the Bill and I hope the House passes it. As my colleague has said, I hope it is not blocked at subsequent stages by the Government.

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