Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I commend Deputy Byrne on the work he has been doing as Minister of State with responsibility for foreign affairs and, in particular, European affairs. There are two areas that I would like to cover following the European Council meeting: Ukraine and the Middle East.

It is critical that Ukraine remains at the forefront of our minds and that we continue to call out the illegal aggression of Russia as it continues to bombard the country. I urge the Government to push as much as possible to ensure that Ukraine can acquire full EU membership.

This is tantamount to ensuring the safety and future of the Ukrainian people and, indeed, the Ukrainian state, and I appreciate the efforts that the Minister has been making in this regard.

On the Middle East, and Gaza in particular, we are constantly hearing from the Opposition that the Government is not doing enough. They fail to mention the recognition of the State of Palestine by the Government, the progress with the occupied territories Bill, the funding of UNWRA and the work on the International Criminal Court, ICC, case, among many other measures.

Earlier on Leaders' Questions, the leader of the Opposition criticised the Taoiseach and the Government in relation to children coming to this country from Gaza to seek medical assistance. There have been concerted efforts by the Government to help children as much as possible travel here safely to ensure that they get the medical attention that they require in keeping with the WHO initiative that other member states are working on as well and what frustrates me is the politicisation of this. Here we have sick children, the State is doing its utmost to help them and we are not seeing any recognition. It is merely trying to politicise it, time and again. If someone genuinely has concerns or questions about issues such as this, sometimes that type of work is better done behind the scenes rather than trying to politicise it. I commend the Taoiseach and, indeed, the Minister, on the amount of work that they are doing to ensure that those families and individuals can come here. The Minister for Health is bringing a memorandum to Cabinet that will allow not only a parent or a carer to come, but, indeed, siblings and a second parent or second carer.

I called in this House last week for the refugee status that we granted to Ukrainians coming to the State, particularly throughout the war in Ukraine, to be extended to the people of Palestine because there are a lot of Irish families helping Palestinian families. Irish families are funding Palestinian families to try to help them buy food, such as flour, etc., but it would be great to see an initiative like that. Not everybody will want to come here from Gaza or from the West Bank, but for those individuals and families who do want to come here, at least we can provide that opportunity. It is impossible for them to get the required documentation because they are in a war zone that most refugees will pass through. Exceptions need to be made, particularly for people from Gaza, because as many people rightly have said here, there is a particular affinity between the Irish people and the Palestinian people. I will send the Minister of State an email on this and see if it is something that the Department or, indeed, the Minister for Justice could look at in more detail. I had contacted the Minister. We stand with the people of Palestine.

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