Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When we talked about adopting measures this House has already approved of, namely, the occupied territories Bill, there is an excuse not to do it. The Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill is sitting on the floor of this House. The Government delayed it and it could release that in the morning, straight away. Let us take a substantive measure. Recognising the state of Palestine is something this House and the Upper House have called for and the Tánaiste's programme for Government includes it. There are excuses, such as that others are not ready to join so we will wait. In respect of all the measures that have been brought forward, whether diplomatic, economic, financial, trade or anything that would send a message to Israel that it will pay a price for what it is doing there is an excuse not to do it.

There is another way of doing things. The Government's argument is that if we take any of these measures there is a risk Ireland becoming "isolated". That is the term that the Tánaiste has used.

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