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

One of the proudest things that this country ever did on the foreign policy stage was to implement a boycott against apartheid South Africa, prompted by the heroic actions of Dunnes Stores workers. That was done unilaterally. Nelson Mandela and many other leading fighters against apartheid made the point at the time that Ireland had made a unique contribution to bringing down the apartheid regime. Why does the Taoiseach hide behind the coat-tails of the EU and say that we can do nothing because we do not have qualified majority voting, when we took unilateral action against apartheid South Africa?

Israel flouts international law through its treatment of and detention of children. Its criminal siege of Gaza has reduced Gaza to being a place that officially is uninhabitable by human beings. There has been flagrant and brazen annexation of Palestinian territory in contravention of international law. The right to self-determination for Palestinians has been officially cancelled by the Israeli Government. Only people who are Jewish in the land that is Israel or Palestine, whatever one wants to call it, have the right to self-determination. Human and international rights are just gone.

This just goes on and on. Ethnic cleansing is a day-to-day reality for Palestinians. Why will the Taoiseach not take a leaf from the book of the Dunnes Stores strikers and what this country did in response to apartheid South Africa and support sanctions, including Senator Black's Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill? The Taoiseach should support, not block, that Bill and take a lead in calling for and imposing sanctions on the apartheid, racist, repressive and illegal activities of the Israeli state in respect of the Palestinian people.

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