Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have all seen across our news channels and social media the images of children, women and men who are being left distraught at what has happened between Israel and Palestine. In the past nine days or so, 66 children have been killed. That is 66 children too many. Nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary care health centres, since this conflict began. A United Nations humanitarian agency has said that some 48,000 of the 52,000 displaced people have gone to 58 schools run by the United Nations.

In 2017, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Clarles Flanagan, said:

Ireland's views on Israeli settlements couldn’t be clearer. Indeed, the views of the international community on settlements couldn’t be clearer – they are comprehensively set out in UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and in the declaration of the Paris Conference ... [at which he had participated]. These settlements are illegal, they actively undermine the prospects for a sustainable negotiated two-state solution, and the relentless expansion of settlements inherently involves injustice and provocation for Palestinians.

In 2017, Deputy Flanagan also called for Israel to reverse the decision to build more settlements and to commit to the two-state solution. Ireland was one of eight EU member states to express explicit support for the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 2017 on the settlements, which involves the compilation of a database of all businesses and enterprises that have enabled or profited from the creation and growth of Israeli settlements.

See this speech in context