Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will support the Order of Business as outlined by the Acting Leader. I commend the actions taken by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in working with Spain to write to the European Commissioner looking for an urgent review of the trade agreement with Israel on the basis of human rights abuses. Obviously, the EU-Israel association agreement is an important trade agreement, so it is important the Commission take note. The international community absolutely has to do more to support innocent Palestinians and what happened yesterday is significant. I also welcome the additional €20 million that was committed to UNRWA earlier by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is important we do all we can, and we need to ask all those representing Ireland for St. Patrick's Day on missions throughout the world that they will use that time to press for support for Palestinians and for an immediate ceasefire.

In speaking about human rights, I congratulate Michael O'Flaherty, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. As leader of the Irish delegation to the Council of Europe, I thank our team out there, including Senators Gavan and Joe O'Reilly, who put a lot of work into ensuring Michael would be elected to this position. It is the most senior non-judicial post ever held by an Irish person on the Council of Europe and it is a huge achievement following the hard work done in Strasbourg over the years, and an endorsement of Michael himself. Michael is a former director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and previously spent 18 months with the UN in various roles. He was also chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. I wish him the very best in a challenging role at a challenging time in our changing world.

Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann, ONE, will celebrate 75 years in existence in 2026. Ahead of that, the charity, which does tremendous work, will open five new veteran homes nationally, employing three new support workers. One of these will be in Newbridge, with the others in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Louth. There are 145,000 veterans of the Defence Forces on the island of Ireland and many of them live in my county, Kildare. ONE does tremendous work to support veterans and the community but funding is always a challenge. It costs €1.4 million annually to do what it does and it is important we look for funding for the important work it does, not least in the context of the five homes.