Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There have been many fine speeches this morning and a great many points have been covered. I really just want to make one. I commend the Tánaiste's speech and those of people like Senators McDowell and Black, but we have arrived at a good motion. It is a motion that this House can support and that the majority of those in the Lower House could support last night. It is possible and legitimate to be against terrorism, against the denial of human and civil rights and against apartheid. That is the space we should be moving forward on because, over recent weeks, there has been a rush to create sides, to put people on them and to generate a kind of "gotcha" culture or energy as to who believes what and what values they have. The energy that we, as Ireland, must show is the one that stands to our experience. We know what it is like for ordinary people to suffer and we must play our role in the de-escalation, in bringing about a ceasefire, in upholding international law and in coming to an agreement that supports the ordinary people of both Israel and Palestine. We have memory and experience and that is in the Good Friday Agreement. If we are going to be an outlier, that is the outlier position we should take. We have experience of an international peace agreement after a conflict that saw thousands of people needlessly die and that has left a legacy we are still living with today. After the last couple of weeks of sides and trying to put people in boxes, today we have said that we are against terrorism, the denial of human and civil rights, apartheid and indiscriminate attacks. We in this country stand for peace so let us move forward together on that.