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

That reply was not one that has been issued for the past number of months or years. If Deputy Carthy listened to it carefully he would see that. All of us in the House have to make a decision on whether we just want to be performative or we want to be impactful. I believe we want to be impactful. The Arab peace initiative is fairly imminent. I believe it is dependent on a ceasefire and we need a ceasefire urgently. We have been working with our colleagues, in terms of those who have been putting together the Arab peace initiative, with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others. The view is that if we could work with other European countries and with those Arab states in the context of an Arab peace initiative that would also have US endorsement, it would potentially be an optimal and impactful time for a number of European states at that juncture to support the initiative through the vehicle of recognition. We have had discussions with a number of our European colleagues in this regard.

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