Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The European Union welcomes the peace plan. It is imperfect, as all peace plans are. We also have to be very honest that there is a lot of high-level detail in the peace plan. As phase two commences and we begin to flesh out what some of these things look like and how they operate it is going to be a real challenge. Yes, we have got to keep the pressure on Israel 100%, and we also have got to keep the pressure on Hamas. We have watched the public executions carried out by Hamas on innocent Palestinian people. Hamas has no future for the people of Palestine. It is certainly not part of the fabric of the people of Palestine and we need to be very clear on this. Neither I nor the Government have been part of any conversations on an international stabilisation force. Of course, we would be willing to have such a conversation but my initial reaction would be in line with the Deputy's. I remain to be convinced that Ireland could play a constructive role in any such force at this moment.

See this speech in context