Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was disappointed by some of the language used by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. I know he is a humanitarian but I expected him to have shown more of this. He stated that, on behalf of the Government, he was unable to agree the Bill was the right way forward. He said there were three broad reasons for this, namely, legal, political and practical effects. That is worse than what Trump is trying to do with the wall between Mexico and the US. By using those three words, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade closed off any attempt to deal with the issue.

The Government is out of touch with the Irish nation on this issue. Whatever their political beliefs, over many years the majority of Irish people have been outraged at the way the Palestinian people have been treated. I recall the efforts of a former foreign affairs Minister from our party, Brian Lenihan Snr., who was outspoken on this issue and did much work on it as far back as 1980. He was very much in favour of changes to ensure the Palestinian people had a better quality of life.

Senator Black and Deputy Niall Collins must be highly commended on their work on this Bill. I applaud them and will stand firmly behind them as they try to progress it.

Much has been said here today about what has been done to the Palestinian people. Access to and the distribution of water, a basic human right, has been for many years and still is an ongoing fundamental issue in this conflict. The Israelis continue to try and disrupt the poor water supply to the Palestinians. That is an outrage in this day and age. It is completely unacceptable. Water consumption by Israelis and Palestinians reflects these stark inequalities. Due to the allocation of transboundary water resources agreed in the Oslo II Accord, Israel controls approximately 80% of water reserves in the West Bank. Military conflict in Gaza in summer 2014 left more than 1 million residents without access to water. The Israelis continue to disrupt the poor water supply in the area.

We can all talk about this issue day in and day out. However, Members in both Houses want to do something about it. We can lobby Europe and have meetings about it like we have for other issues. We can take a stand on this issue and fight the case in Europe.

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