Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The decision to ban an EU delegation from entering Palestine is reprehensible and wrong. We have consistently, at EU level but, more significantly, at the UN Security Council, raised issues pertaining to Israeli policy within the West Bank, settlements and a range of other matters. We have been probably one of most consistent and proactive countries in that regard, most recently in respect of the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al-Jazeera journalist. I met with the President of Israel, at his request, on the margins of Davos. He has strong Irish connections, as the House will be aware. We never lose an opportunity to put across our perspective and viewpoint on the settlement policy and how wrong it is and the need for a two-state solution to that issue.

I say to Deputy McDonald and others that, internationally, Ireland is one of the few countries that continues to hold Israel to account for its actions in the Middle East. The US and others continue to support the position of Israel on the Middle East, although they also provide significant supports. President Biden provides supports. His administration has restored some supports for Palestinians that President Trump had got rid of. A broader international effort is required in advocating on behalf of the Palestinians with Americans and others to get balance, a proper approach and a proper process involved in order to have a meaningful opportunity for a two-state solution and financial supports for the West Bank and Gaza and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA. The European Union has made the strongest representations recently. The Commission was making attempts to put conditions on supports to the Palestinian Authority in the form of funding from Europe and we have pushed very hard to have those conditions removed. We feel that is an unacceptable new development in respect of EU funding of the Palestinian Authority.

The Horn of Africa crisis, which Deputy Bacik raised, is a very serious issue in respect of the potential of famine arising out of Putin's war. Without question, Putin has weaponised energy, food and migration. That is a real issue facing the world right now. I do not accept the proposition regarding a TRIPS waiver. The European Union has, however, reached agreement with the leaders of Africa, particularly through the African Union, following the recent European Union - African Union summit. Europe is the only real player involved in investing huge funds to develop the capacity to manufacture mRNA vaccines and technology more generally into the future in Africa - in South Africa and Senegal. It never gets acknowledged in this House. I am not referring to Deputy Boyd Barrett, but others in the House keep beating the anti-European Union drum. Actually, the European Union has been the great donor of vaccines. The issue with vaccines is no longer a TRIPS waiver. I never accepted that it was and thought at the time that the TRIPS waiver was more a sound bite than a solution. There is a surplus of vaccines at the moment. What is really at stake now is getting the vaccines into people's arms, overcoming a lot of hesitancy about vaccines across Africa and various states.

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