Ian Marshall (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The debate is interesting for me because given where I have lived for 50 years I understand something about divided communities trying to live together. As someone who has lived in a charged and sometimes very toxic environment, when I look at the Bill that has been proposed I struggle with it on the basis that public perception is often key to such discussions. As someone who has lived in Northern Ireland through a difficult time, I know the message that was often portrayed globally was not what I experienced on the ground. Therefore, one has to be careful about the message one gets out of such an area. One man's occupied territory is another man's homeland. One's man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and one's man's active aggression is another man's act of self-defence. I think we must be cognisant of that, because no one in this building today truly understands the complexity of this discussion.

We cannot attribute blame to one side or the other in this discussion. All involved must be accountable and we must fully understand the objectives of the Bill. In my view, the objectives are to protect the Palestinian people and to lead a change in attitude to this long-running issue to achieve a resolution.

I work part-time in a university environment. As many in the Chamber are aware, universities are judged by output and impact. What will be the output and impact of the Bill? I am not convinced it would deliver the desired outcomes. The Good Friday Agreement demonstrated the value of dialogue and talking and even though that is a long, slow and tedious process, it is the only process that will deliver results.

Ireland's role, as an independent state, should be to support and facilitate dialogue and conflict resolution in the area. If enacted, the Bill would be applicable to many territories around the world, and I do not think that is going to happen. For that reason, I oppose the Bill and support the Government's position of facilitating dialogue and support. An embargo in such circumstances would probably create more problems that it would resolve.