Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

In recognition of the horror that is being inflicted on the people of Gaza, the loss of life, the new low that we are seeing being perpetrated when aid is being used in a way that appears to be assembling people for further deaths and injury, let me outline what the Government has done and what we continue to do to respond in a diplomatic and practical way to this. I refer to the work the Irish Government has done in responding to the clear sentiment of the people of Ireland in our intervention in the International Court of Justice in the case taken by South Africa; what has happened in recognising Palestine as a sovereign and independent state; our support for a proposal from the Netherlands to review the EU's trade and political relationship with Israel; the fact that we were the first country to call for UNRWA to remain in Gaza and that for the past two years alone we have allocated €58 million to support its work; and the fact that Ireland has been at the heart, as demonstrated by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in the past number of weeks, of making a case for a different diplomatic approach from the European Union to respond to the loss of life and horror that the people of Gaza are confronting. That was recognised earlier in the week. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar visited Ireland to engage with us. Qatar is a country playing a key role in trying to stabilise and bring peace to the Middle East. He visited to engage with the Government regarding our diplomatic efforts and the work we are doing to make a difference.

I, again, refute the charge that the Deputy made against me personally and note that the call did not happen. I cannot help but be struck by the irony that the Deputy would rather believe the Ministry of Justice of Israel than me on the matter given everything else he says about that state.

As regards the role of the Central Bank, let me again emphasise what it does not do. The Central Bank does not sell bonds on behalf of the State of Israel and nor are these bonds listed in our Stock Exchange. The legislation the Opposition has proposed, which the Deputy correctly said I argued and voted against, is, we believe, unworkable and would not have been in line with the law of the European Union. Instead, what we need to do, recognising the fact that while we are a member state of the European Union, there are many other member states of the European Union that hold differing views, is work to build up a diplomatic consensus to make a difference to that issue. That is not done by Ireland acting on our own. It is done through the patient work of diplomacy, which the Taoiseach and Tánaiste are at the heart of doing, to change the stance of the European Union on this issue, while taking action ourselves, as we have done and which is recognised by the leaders of the people of Palestine, to make a difference to the horror that we see unfolding.

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