Post European Council Meeting: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

The issue with regard to the European Council and the Foreign Affairs Council on the EU-Israel association agreement is as I said it was, namely, that the Irish Government has engaged with member states to try to bring forward a proposal which is sitting there but needs to be supported by a sufficient number of member states. However, we are not able to do that. That is a fact. I would encourage - we are doing this and we encourage everyone else to do it - is engagement with other member states to see why they do not agree with us. They have other reasons for this.
I also reject utterly any suggestions that somehow this Government or politicians in this Government are connected to or complicit, or whatever the phraseology is that the protesters and the Deputy's colleagues in political life use about complicity in genocide. I totally reject that. We have always stood firm on the side of democracy and human rights. To start throwing those allegations around the House is completely wrong. Any sanctions packages we have ever done we have done in recent times at a European level because that is where trade policy is. It is also where one has the most impact. No sanctions have ever been done where the damage to us would be greater than the harm we are seeking to impose to change ways. If he is setting out a policy, as the Deputy is, he has to set out for the people the economic consequences in Ireland of his various proposals.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22