Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----particularly in light of the views expressed by the Dáil and Seanad in 2014, to which many Senators referred.

I want to address once again an issue raised in the debate by many Senators on the position of the Israeli ambassador and the embassy here. Asking an ambassador to leave is hardly ever done anywhere, not least because it cuts off an incredibly important channel of dialogue and influence. The Tánaiste used that channel last week when he conveyed Ireland's strong views on the Gaza events directly to the Israeli ambassador and, ultimately, asked him to pass those messages onto the Israeli Government. To remove the Israeli ambassador would shut off that line of communication indefinitely. We have to question how we would have arrived at a successful conclusion to the Northern Ireland peace negotiations if we had decided over 25 or 30 years ago to shut off communications with the leaders of one of those communities in Northern Ireland.