Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That was not marked on my paper; I thought it was coming later.

The situation in Palestine has got dramatically worse throughout the year. Before the last Israeli general election, Prime Minister Netanyahu followed a strategy of becoming more extreme and anti-Arab by the day. Much of this was, frankly, racist. He was calling on Israeli Jews to be scared of their Arab fellow citizens.

However, he went much further and announced his intention to annex large parts of the West Bank, in particular current settlements and areas around them, should he win the election. This is essentially a plan to prevent any independent Palestinian state from emerging and to consign millions of people to permanent statelessness.

This country and Fianna Fáil have been consistent in supporting a two-state solution with parity of esteem and equality. As I say, the situation has become progressively worse and, quite frankly, it confirms the view of myself and my party, and the rest of the Opposition in this House, that we are correct to say that the time has come to take assertive action against creeping annexation.

The Government has said it opposes the legislation about the settlements that is before the Oireachtas because it is against EU regulations. However, there is no regulation stopping the Government from pushing for changes of policy and demanding action at European level.

I have had discussions with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on this matter. The Tánaiste has been unsuccessful in persuading Mr. Netanyahu to moderate his approach and was wildly over-optimistic more than a year and a half ago about the prospects of a peace initiative emanating from the Israeli Government. It is time for this Government to start proposing concrete actions in line with the seriousness of the threat of annexation.

On a separate matter, I have asked, at various times, for details of the likely economic impact of the withdrawal agreement on Northern Ireland. Last week, the UK Labour Party released a leaked document from the UK Treasury which predicted that the impact of new east-west checks on Northern Ireland would be severe. There has been more than enough time to review the issue. Can the Taoiseach tell us if he accepts that the agreement will have a negative impact on Northern Ireland?

I apologise that there are two separate questions covered in that one contribution.

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