Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his response, with which, I am sure he will not be surprised to hear, I am disappointed. He spoke about gestures and actions of protest. Unfortunately, what he has done to date amounts to just that. It is just words; and words are empty vessels at this point. This is an apartheid state with which we are dealing. I am a little older that the Tánaiste and I remember the same attitude among Fine Gael members in the 1980s to the situation South Africa at that time. The view then was that we needed to keep lines of dialogue open and that we should not take action. It was the Dunnes Stores strikers who helped change that situation. We are now all agreed that sanctions worked against the apartheid regime in South Africa. This is the road we need to travel. The Tánaiste need not take my word for this. Rather, he should take the word of the Palestinian people because this is what they are seeking. The time for empty gestures and words is long gone. The Tánaiste was in this Chamber a few months ago speaking about a potential peace process. There is no potential peace process, there is just more slaughter on the streets of Gaza and throughout Palestine. When will the Tánaiste recognise that Israel is an apartheid State? When will he recognise that fact and act accordingly?