Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle) | Oireachtas source

Before moving to the important statements on Ireland's recognition of the State of Palestine I ask everyone to join me in extending a warm céad míle fáilte to someone who is familiar to all of us here - Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, ambassador of Palestine. She is very welcome.

As we proceed to take the debate, I will say a word or two of caution. We will understandably want to express our horror at what I think Deputy Cairns has correctly described as the depravity we have now seen taking place over several months in Palestine, and the events of 7 October 2023 in Israel. I need to make it clear that when we speak here, we clearly differentiate between Hamas and the Palestinian people, and clearly discriminate between the Government of Israel and the Jewish and Israeli people. We think, as we speak, particularly of the very small but treasured Jewish community we have in this country that we value and treasure, and that we do not want in any way to feel undermined by our justifiable criticism of the unthinkable acts of depravity we have seen happening.

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