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

A minute or two will do fine. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett that there should be access into Gaza.

I secured access to Gaza then not through the Israeli Government at the time, but through the Egyptian foreign minister. I was the only foreign minister allowed into Gaza then because the Egyptian foreign minister said I could go in through the Rafah crossing. Other senior foreign ministers were not allowed in for ridiculously restrictive reasons. We should not replicate one bad practice with another. The Deputy is saying that because of the Israeli Government’s approach to Gazans trying to get into Ireland and Europe, and vice versa, that therefore we should restrict Israelis. We should uphold the best standards in terms of allowing people to travel and to move into each other’s countries. We should push strongly for a more liberal approach to Gazans in this context, especially in respect of families being reunited and meeting.

Turning to the question from Deputy Brendan Smith, he raised several issues regarding the optimisation of the shared island fund. The €70 million in funding that we announced in that context included a provision of €40 million for the restoration of the Ulster Canal, which is the kind of project that makes a huge difference. The Deputy is working hard in Cavan-Monaghan with the local authorities on cross-Border projects that we can fund out of the shared island fund and also on the dialogue aspect. Regarding the special envoy to Northern Ireland, that is under review. It has merit, especially in the context of the current difficulties we are experiencing regarding the protocol and its application.

See this speech in context