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

I wish to raise a specific question that was put to me. I do not expect the Minister of State to answer now, but I would appreciate it if he could get back to me. On the issue of the EU digital Covid certificate and plans for travel within the EU, a person asked me very valid question. In the case of a person who has been told by their doctor - not through scepticism about vaccines - that because of a particular condition they have, they cannot be vaccinated, is that person going to be discriminated against in their ability to travel, when others who are vaccinated are allowed to travel? It is a fair question. People who are in that situation deserve an answer on it. They should not be discriminated against. If it is decided at a certain point that based on vaccination, people are allowed to travel, or particular conditions around international travel resuming within the EU, green listed countries or whatever are introduced, there should not be unfair discrimination against people who, through no fault of their own and because of particular conditions, are unable to be vaccinated. That is a specific question on which I hope to get a response.

The main point I wish to make concerns the references to Palestine and the discussions around Palestine. The Taoiseach's references to the discussion were fairly minimal in just saying that there was a restatement of the commitment to the two-state solution. I wish to assert that the two-state solution is not a solution. It has been tried since the Oslo Accords were concluded and it has been an absolute disaster. By the way, it essentially legitimises and accepts the principal of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the ethnic-religious partition of people who used to live in one country as equals, but who were ethnically partitioned. Imagine if somebody said that the two-state solution in Ireland was a legitimate solution. I think many of us would baulk at that. Yet, we continue to go on about a two-state solution, which is, in effect, legitimising and endorsing the ethnic-religious partition of the land of Palestine. In fact, to my mind, it is the main basis on which Israel continues to seize Palestinian land and ethnically cleanse Palestinians. It reinforces the idea that because at some point borders will be fixed, Israel should grab as much land and ethnically cleanse as many Palestinians as possible. It is having disastrous consequences. Therefore, it is time to question the two-state solution as an absolutely failed and dangerous fantasy and to start to talk about equality of everybody in the historic land of Palestine, whether they are Jews, Arabs, Christians or have no religion. We would not accept anything less anywhere else in the world. Why do we accept the idea of ethnic cleansing and ethnic partition which has been so disastrous for the Palestinians?

In that regard, I also ask the Taoiseach why we are practising apartheid against Palestinians when it comes to access to the EU. Israelis have a visa waiver coming into the EU, but Palestinians do not. Why are we discriminating in favour of Israel in that regard, as against Palestinians? Is that not a case of apartheid being practised by Europe and should it not cease? If we are serious about seeing people as equals in the historic land of Palestine, Israel or whatever you want to call it, why are we treating those two groups of people differently, particularly when Israel behaves quite disgracefully towards EU passport holders who happen to be of Palestinian origin and who enter Israel trying to access the West Bank or Gaza?

Finally, I appeal to the Government to do everything it can to assist the people of Gaza in the reconstruction effort. Gaza has suffered four attacks in the past 12 years. In the latest attack, 1,148 houses were destroyed, 15,000 were damaged and 100,000 people were displaced. In many cases, people had their homes destroyed for the second, third or fourth time. We urgently need to get assistance to the people of Gaza to help reconstruct their shattered society, particularly in the area of housing.

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