Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an Seanadóir Bacik as a cuid ama a roinnt liom. Tréaslaím leis an Seanadóir Black faoin Bhille an-tábhachtach seo a thabhairt chun cinn. I welcome the ambassador and Dr. Barghouti, and the teams that are working very closely with them. I also welcome the representatives of Sadaka, Trócaire, Christian Aid, Congress and other organisations. It strikes me that a great deal of diplomatic ballet dancing is taking place. There is a significant lack of urgency on this issue. I am afraid that all of this will be kicked to touch in the diplomatic rhetoric that is happening. The NGOs and the Palestinian people have conveyed to us their concern that if it takes another six months for any kind of diplomatic movement, more settlements will be put in place and, as we have heard, more concrete will be put on the peace process. Quite simply, that would be totally and utterly unacceptable.

Anybody who is observing this whole process from any kind of neutral standpoint will see that the two-state solution is being rendered absolutely impossible by the building of these settlements. The diplomatic effort in which we are engaging is fake in a lot of senses. I refer, for example, to what the decision of the US Administration in respect of Jerusalem and to the lack of any movement whatsoever from an EU perspective. It is simply not good enough for the EU to hide behind multilateralism because it means that rather than standing up and showing leadership, we are seen to be complicit in the Israeli stance of putting more settlements in place, cutting off the water and imposing an apartheid system that does not allow people to travel on roads in their own country.

I concur with an Seanadóir Ó Donnghaile's stance on the boycott. I totally disagree with Senator Boyhan. I think a boycott is a hugely symbolic act. It would put a really positive message out there. It would send hope to the people of Palestine that somebody out there is listening. If, God forbid, a Government in this country did something similar in an apartheid manner on this island, I hope an international government would boycott this country on the basis that what was happening was completely and utterly wrong.