Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We stand here during dark days across Europe. The actions of Russia show the fragility of the global order that has been underpinned by active democratic processes in most countries for over three decades. Today, that is under threat, as it has been this week. As a democratic people and as parliamentarians in this Chamber, we have a duty to support and advocate for those who are seeking freedom, the right to expression and peace across the globe.

Tonight, people of all ages shelter underground in makeshift bunkers, metro stations and hospital basements in both Kyiv and Kharkiv. It is a brutal and sudden conflict, which has had a devastating impact on the people of Ukraine, for whom it is hard to find appropriate words. I did not have the opportunity to contribute last night to the debate, but want to take the opportunity to update the House and update the Minister on the family to which I referred in the Topical Issue matter on Thursday of last week, the first day of that invasion. That family is now here in Ireland. A grandmother, an aunt and two children have been reunited with their beloved, daughter, sister-in-law and cousins. The gentleman of the family could not leave Ukraine. My thoughts are with him and with others tonight.

This requires that we reflect on the fact that the conflict in Ukraine shows how clearly fragile our world order is. I suggest that if anything can come from that, as other Deputies have said, it must be an increased urgency to resolve the many other conflicts that have predated this terrible war on our Continent. That involves dialogue, respect for democracy and using our place to call out those things that are wrong, as well as highlighting and amplifying issues that can lead to conflict resolution.

As the Minister knows, I am a member of both of the parliamentary friendships groups that are reflected here tonight. The Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship group has, on the Israeli side, one male Jewish member of the Knesset and one female Arab member of the Knesset. I am also a member of the cross-party Oireachtas friends of Palestine group and I have been since it was established for this Dáil. I do that out of a genuine interest in conflict resolution in the region, as well as a desire to see both communities thrive and live well side-by-side. To be frank, after many years of progress and dialogue in the past, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian people has gone backwards.

We must in this House stand with international legal norms, rules-based systems and the protection of human rights. The actions of successive Israeli Governments in relation to settlements in the West Bank is wrong. I want to state and add my opposition to what is the relentless and illegal expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Similarly, the practice of forced evictions, demolitions and relentless encroachment into other lands is wrong, illegal and destructive to the opportunity for peace. I have visited the West Bank, as I have visited Israel. I have seen this, as other Deputies have described, in Bethlehem, near Ramallah. It is unlawful, it is a barrier to conflict resolution and it is a barrier to peace. It is directly contradictory to Israel’s democracy, which is a democratic, rules-based system and to the values of a democratic rules-based system. We must also recognise that there are many among the Israeli political system and the Israeli people who also condemn that. They look instead towards measures that will develop and deliver the opportunity for peace and conflict resolution. Israel must comply with international law, as must every other country. I recognise how Ireland consistently raises this within its role on the Security Council in the UN.

Here tonight, we are democrats in a freely elected Parliament. I have to recognise as well that Israel is also a democracy, with a strong Supreme Court, protections for the rights of women, the LGBTI community, freedom of expression and a diversity in political representation. It is a place of political dialogue and criticism of the Government by parliamentarians. What we all hope for in this House, and we have all said it, is to see a two-state solution, for two strong, different, independent and preferably democratic states, with the protection of human rights in both, with the protection of minorities in both, with an end to violence and violence of language. That means ending and demolishing settlements. It means holding elections and enabling a strong representation of the Palestinian people to enable their own self-determination and their own self-governance. It means an end to the language that suggests the ending of the state of Israel. It means celebrating those areas of collaboration and friendship, which do occur. It means celebrating and recognising minorities and highlighting where that does happen as much as legitimately criticising where it does not. There are people in Israel and across the Palestinian territory who share goals of peace for the future. Their political representatives deserve amplification, support and engagement. Those representatives that amplify violence, settlement building and racist language, on both sides, deserve our round condemnation.

I had a constituent email me today to highlight that Irish people and the Irish State have friends and partnerships among the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. Our shared goal is conflict resolution. The steps to be taken to achieve that are to identify and amplify the champions of peace building for the future. We as a Parliament and as a democracy can contribute to, support and engender that.

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