Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the students at Trinity College who have forced their college to begin divesting from Israel. They have achieved more from their actions than has been achieved by the Government. I note that students at UCD have followed their example. I also congratulate the dozens of staff and students at UCC who have now formed the UCC BDS to organise action with the aim of forcing UCC into full divestment, cutting all financial ties to companies profiting from the occupation. I wish them well and we should watch that space closely.

Tamar Nejem is a 25-year-old Palestinian student. She left Gaza in September and came to Ireland. She is currently studying at Mary Immaculate Teacher Training College in Limerick. She is campaigning for her family to be allowed to come to Ireland. She has a mother, a father, four brothers and a sister in Gaza. In the last seven months her family's house has been bombed. The family have been forced to flee four times. Her father has suffered a heart attack and her sister a stroke. I fully support her campaign at the moment.

The recognition of a Palestinian state is to be welcomed, but it must be more than a symbolic gesture. It must go hand in hand with the granting of rights, including the right of millions of Palestinians forced to leave their homeland to return and have full rights. That is an important point. This must not be just a symbolic gesture and must be linked to the question of rights for people.

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