Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle) | Oireachtas source

The third item has been submitted by Deputy Andrews. He wishes to discuss the decision by the Israeli state to designate six Palestinian human rights groups operating in the West Bank as terror organisations. Before inviting the Deputy to make his contribution, can I say I have had much correspondence from members of the Irish Jewish community of late and it has highlighted for me the need for us to be very careful and very precise in the language we use. We should avoid the unintended effect of causing offence or hurt to the Jewish people and especially to the Irish Jewish community, within which we have many colleagues, including former Deputy Ben Briscoe, the late Mervyn Taylor and former Deputy Alan Shatter, all of whom served with distinction. In addressing these matters we need to be careful about the language we use and that we do not cause unintended hurt. I am certainly not saying that in respect of Deputy Andrews or any individual Member but as a collective it is something we need to be conscious of. That said, the Deputy is putting this matter down because so many Members of this House over so many years have had a genuine interest in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the interest we have is shared by the people we represent. The floor is yours, sir.

See this speech in context