Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has taken no action to date. I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister to come into the House in order that we can debate this issue. We need the Government to embrace the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the apartheid Israeli state. There is no room for ifs and buts in this regard. We were very clear regarding South Africa in the 1980s that we would not endorse an apartheid state. Despite this I fear there are people in this room who would prefer not to address this issue. It goes beyond normal politics. We cannot endorse or turn a blind eye to what is happening in occupied Palestine today. Things are getting worse by the day. A total of 240 Palestinian families have been put out of their homes and their homes have been demolished in the past month alone. Therefore, we need to talk about this. I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to come into the House to let us to have a proper debate on occupied Palestine and to give all Members the opportunity to embrace the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state. Words are not enough.