Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking time to discuss the Palestinian vaccination programme. I am aware Ireland has contributed and plans to spend €50 million in support of global public health, which includes COVAX. Our money is being used to fund this initiative. We have a responsibility to ensure equitable access to Covid vaccines. Ireland should be actively addressing obstacles to equitable access, such as Israeli discriminatory healthcare practice. What progress has been made to vaccinate Palestinians under this programme?

Israel's decision to exclude Palestinians from its vaccination distribution programme is not the first time Israel has denied Palestinians lifesaving medical treatments. We are aware from WHO reports, including one conducted in 2017, that only 54% of Gaza patients who applied for permits to access healthcare in Israel and the West Bank received approval. The report shows 54 Palestinians, 46 of whom had cancer, died in 2017 following denial of or delay in their permits.

Even by Israel's poor humanitarian standards, denying Palestinians access to lifesaving medication seems callous. It is insulting to repeatedly hear praise for Israel's vaccination roll out success when the reality is very different. It has minutely controlled their lives while denying any meaningful responsibility for their welfare.

Having regard to the vast funding we give to COVAX, we need to ensure our Government calls for the removal any barriers to access. It is our prerogative to understand where our funding is going and where access to this funding is being obstructed. Amnesty International, among many other organisations, condemned the Israeli Government's decision to bar Palestinians from receiving the vaccine. It described the Israeli action as evidence of the institutionalised discrimination that defines Israeli Government policy towards Palestinians.

There is no legal or moral justification for Israel's action. The fourth Geneva Convention asserts that any occupying power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining the medical and hospital establishments and services with particular reference to taking the preventative measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Even the Oslo Accords oblige both sides to co-operate in combatting epidemics and assist each other in times of emergency, having regard to the countless examples of discrimination and barriers to access necessary medicines.

How will we encourage equitable access for Palestinians when Israel continues to be praised by the international media? The situation in Gaza is dire - I was there and it was an horrific experience to see the people there. Gaza suffers from electricity cuts that last 12 hours per day. Thanks to Israel's air, land and sea siege, as well as multiple military assaults on a crowded enclave, there is a severe shortage of medicine and medical equipment along with significant poverty and unemployment. According to the Palestinian health ministry, the territories have been in financial crisis, leaving them next to no funds to purchase vaccine doses. Quarantining and maintaining sanitation in Gaza is extremely difficult.

We need to understand where our funding is going. In this blatant barrier to access the benefits of our funding, it is paramount we condemn Israeli discriminatory practices and understand what the Department has done to put an end to illegal barriers to accessing the vaccines, which has been and continues to be supported by Irish funding.

I ask the Minister of State what more we can do to ensure equitable access to vaccinations for Palestinians in the occupied territories. I welcome the opportunity for the Minister of State to put on record that Ireland will step up to its responsibility to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for Palestinians.