Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

How would any Member feel if his or her pension was cut by 60% just as he or she approached pension age? It is an absolute disgrace. These are people who worked for a long time in tough jobs and who paid their pension contributions into a private scheme and now they are being cut by 60%. It is a disgrace. It is not too late to stop it. We will push this issue again with the Minister for Social Protection during the debate on the social welfare Bill. I appeal to everybody on the opposite side to look at this issue again. Much of the information they are being given is misinformation as they will have seen from the e-mails sent back to them correcting misstatements made by various Ministers about the issue.

I call on the Leader to schedule a debate in the House on the need for Ireland to recognise the Palestinian state. As Members will be aware, the Swedish Government gave diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian state earlier this week. The British House of Commons approved a backbench motion in favour of recognising Palestine. I think Ireland should have recognised Palestine decades ago, but certainly when the PLO first agreed to recognise Israel. It is particularly important in the aftermath of Israel's latest assault on Gaza that the international community sends out a clear message of support for the Palestinian people and for their right to self-determination and reaffirms our absolute disgust at Israel's continued decision to wilfully ignore for decades UN resolutions calling on it to end its illegal occupation of Palestine. As a country we have always led on this issue. We have led in terms of supporting the Palestinian people and lobbying on their behalf internationally. Unfortunately, in the midst of Israel's latest assault on Gaza, that did not happen as our Government was silent and hid behind the EU. I hope that in this case, since two of our EU partners have decided to recognise Palestine, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade will show some courage on this issue and stand up and promote what is right internationally and not hide behind the EU. Two other countries have had no difficulty in unilaterally recognising the state of Palestine. It would be an important symbolic move to restate our support for Palestine-----