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

I would have suspected what Deputy Murphy has outlined in any case, but it confirms something for me. One thing the US has done is try to secure access for US Palestinian citizens to the West Bank and Gaza, and vice versa, something that is made extremely difficult by the state of Israel. The Israelis want to be part of the US visa waivers scheme. In essence, there is a bit of a quid pro quogoing on.

Israelis are entitled to be part of a visa waivers scheme to enter the European Union but, simultaneously, they make it difficult for, or sometimes simply prohibit, people from the EU, including people from this country, going into Gaza and the West Bank. They make it extremely difficult for Irish Palestinian citizens to visit their families or vice versa. I had Palestinian guests from Gaza in the Gallery yesterday. They have family here and they told me about how extraordinarily difficulty it is to meet each other, whether for a family member going there or one of them coming here. Yet, we grant easy access for Israelis coming here. Should we not, at the very least, put some conditions on Israelis having free access to the EU while Palestinians and EU citizens, whether or not they are Palestinian citizens, are discriminated against when trying to enter the occupied territories?

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