Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I commend him both personally and politically on the speed with which he found common ground with Pedro Sánchez and others. I very much look forward to progress being made on that matter. We need to be honest with ourselves, hearing on a daily basis the rhetoric coming from the Israeli Government. The reality of recognising the state of Palestine and pushing towards the two-state solution is that the international community will enforce that. That means the United Nations would enforce that. The current government in Israel in my view is the tip of the sword. I believe the next government could be even harder because of the repercussions of the actions of the Israelis since 7 October.

All of us, of course, condemn terrorism but state-sponsored terrorism must be also condemned. The persecution and isolation of the Palestinian people, in particular in Rafah, is horrifying. It is very clear to all of us in this House, including I am sure the Taoiseach, that the Israelis have no intention of pulling back or stopping until such time as they are made to do so. That is why I believe this State in recognising a Palestinian state, which is a very welcome endeavour, must work with the international community for the express purposes of guaranteeing, dare I say it, what Deputy Barry had to say, the personal rights and freedoms of those individuals in their statehood. The major issue I have with recognising the Palestinian state and pushing for a two-state solution is that if the Israelis are not on board, the whole endeavour is pointless in terms of saving lives. That is the most fundamentally important aspect of this entire discussion.

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