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

The Deputy has raised two issues, the first of which is the Middle East and the current situation there. I agree with everything the Deputy has articulated in respect of the appalling killing of children, innocent civilians and humanitarian aid workers whose work is extraordinarily brave and courageous. It is outrageous that the UN humanitarian workers are being killed, as it is in respect of medical care workers and journalists who are reporting bravely on the situation in the Middle East.

We welcome what we are hearing about the truce, albeit a short one, in respect of getting the hostages out. We pray and hope that Emily Hand will be one of those hostages and indeed that all the children who are hostages are released. There is no moral justification for hostage-taking at all. That needs to be called out. We want to build on that truce to create a permanent cessation of violence. I will be attending the Mediterranean ministerial meeting between Arab countries and EU ministers on Monday. We will be working with other like-minded EU states to build on the truce and create approaches to a road map to peace from the appalling war and loss of life that is currently under way and to chart a way incrementally and develop confidence-building measures to ensure that peace comes to the Middle East. It has to be on the basis of a two-state solution, but we need to create a road map for that where there will be two states in which people can co-exist in harmony and peace. That has to be driven internationally and it has to be done strongly. Israel in particular must stop the aggression towards settlers in the West Bank and the violence there. Yes, we must pursue that with sanctions if it continues. It must also link the West Bank to Gaza and the Palestinian authority to oversee that. These are the issues we have to work on.

In respect of the triple lock, I have received no answer. The consultative forum was a very good forum, despite the attempts by Sinn Féin and others to undermine it. They did not even want to give it a chance, which I find shocking.

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