Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that. I welcome Senator Norris back to the House and wish him a very speedy recovery. The timing of his return to the Committee of Selection was impeccable and I commend him on this. He has spoken the truth about that meeting and has set the record straight. The Government has made a serious effort to use public relations to downgrade that meeting and Senator Norris has explained the situation very well. We in this House should be proud that David Norris is a Senator. He is a national treasure.

I request that the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, appeal to the kidnappers of the three teenagers taken near Ramallah in Palestine.

I was in that city - it was a city under siege - with the late Deputy Tony Gregory, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, now Tánaiste, former Deputy John Gormley, Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Deputy John Paul Phelan. It is certainly a tinderbox in relation to what will happen in the Middle East. One young man, Ahmed Sabarin, has already been shot by the Israelis; he is one of the first to be shot in that regard. It is certainly an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I ask the Tánaiste to appeal to whoever is responsible, whether it be Hamas or some other element in Palestine, not to incite the wrath of the Israeli army at this particularly sensitive time. The Tánaiste would have influence in that regard. He was there with me as a guest of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and we met all of its leaders at the time. He is in a strong position to appeal to those responsible for the kidnapping of the three teenagers to restore them to their families without further delay.