Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion put down by Senator Norris, which is a very important one. I also welcome the fact that time has been given to debate it today. Those of us who have been to Palestine have seen at first hand the horrors of an apartheid state. It is generally accepted now that Israel is an apartheid state. There is horrific humiliation, imprisonment without trial, torture and death squads. It is horrendous. We should be as clear on Israel as we were in later years on South Africa. Apartheid can never be justified in any way.

What has happened with Bank of Ireland is very sinister. We have a foreign apartheid state interfering directly to pressurise a bank that was bailed out by our taxpayers to close an account to try to undermine this organisation. Let us be clear that this is not a party political issue, or at least should not be. I know many colleagues in the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and they belong to all parties and none. That is why it was so important that it was an independent Senator who brought the motion forward so that it could not be used as a political football of any particular party. That is why I am gutted that Fianna Fáil has put down an amendment.