Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

Most fair-minded people would accept that there is broad cross-party support within this House and the Dáil for the policy established over the past 20 or 30 years. As it is not an item of dispute, perhaps rhetorical exuberance got the better of the Senator when he made that particular statement. However, it is simply not true and does not stand up to analysis.

We do not in any way share the view that we should punish the people of Palestine because they have had an election. We have asked for two basic steps which were at the origin of the peace process in the Oslo Accord, namely, acceptance of Israel and its right to exist as a state, and the renunciation of violence as a way of furthering that particular peace process. These are not outlandish or difficult demands and I found the comparison with our own peace process to be somewhat strange, as essentially they were the qualifications which were required to become involved in the peace process in Ireland.