Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are approaching the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin's barbaric and illegal invasion of Ukraine. It is important that we once again extend our solidarity to all of those fleeing the horrendous bloodshed. Everything that can be done must be done to bring to an end this cruel and senseless war. As a neutral country, we can play a unique role in advocating for peace and dialogue to end this war.

I hope we will use our voice wisely, powerfully and consistently. It is important to impress upon European leaders the need for an escalation of talks, not of hostilities. While the initiative for a just peace sounds welcome, I have to express my alarm and concern that this war might prove to be a boon and win for the armaments industry and a humanitarian catastrophe for the people of Ukraine.

I also have to put it to the Tánaiste that blood has been spilled again in Palestine. We see Israeli aggression, Palestinian reprisal and innocent lives lost in Jenin refugee camp, in Gaza and in synagogues. This is the pattern under what is a right-wing hawkish Government. Whereas the commitment to accountability under the rule of international law and moves to punish the crime of aggression are very welcome, equally, crimes of occupation and the crime of apartheid on Israel's part need to be called out. I am extremely concerned that tensions and aggression are again building. I am concerned at the increasing illegal annexation, illegal settlements, threats of more to come, and the targeting of refugee populations. There is a clear mismatch between the insistence - correctly - on adherence to the rule of law when it comes to Ukraine and the criminal behaviour of Vladimir Putin and yet there is no equivalent standard, reckoning or accountability when it comes to Palestine and the state of Israel, which still enjoys a special partnership and relationship with the European Union. That is wrong.

For the sake of justice in Palestine but also in the interests of wider world order and commitment to the rule of law, multilateralism and a safe and secure world, Israel needs to be called out. The time for equivocating is over and the exceptionalism being applied to Israel has to stop. I put it to the Tánaiste, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, and to his colleagues in government, that Ireland now needs to step up. We need to step up if we are to have any hope of breaking this cycle in the Middle East or ending the endless war of attrition and the endless targeting of refugee populations and dispossessed people on their own land. We have no excuse as Irish people. We know what that is. I want the Tánaiste, as the Minister responsible, and his Government, to act on that and to do so without further delay. They should apply the same correct standards as apply to Ukraine and Putin. That standard too must hold for Palestine and for Israel to end the occupation and the system of apartheid there.

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