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

I appreciate Deputy Harkin raising the issue, and we certainly will. I will say again that we are doing everything we possibly can to get Irish citizens and their dependants out of Gaza. We have succeeded in getting quite a number out. Our ambassador, Sonya McGuinness, is working very hard. She is based in Tel Aviv. There are Members of the House who want us to expel ambassadors and pull our ambassador back. It is an interesting point because Deputy Boyd Barrett had a very sincere case this morning in respect of a number of people in Gaza as well, but at the same time he wants me to boycott Israel and have no representation there. We need a coming together of minds about the practical realities here. Israel controls a lot of what happens at the moment, wrongly, as to who gets out of Gaza. Those are the facts of the case, and the Egyptian authorities have been very helpful. We will work on that case and I appreciate the Deputy raising it.

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