Air Navigation and Transport (Arms Embargo) Bill 2024 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

Elected; I thank the Senator. We as parliamentarians have a duty and responsibility to lead and be fair in these Houses, and we have, but others have not. Senator Clifford-Lee, who has done Trojan work in the IPU in a variety of different roles, will attest that in Istanbul this week some countries wanted to absolve themselves of any responsibility. I do not want to divide with Senator Higgins because I am probably a lot closer to her than she might think, but our Government is very clear and very consistent. The Ministers, Deputies O’Brien, McEntee and Harris, and the Taoiseach have made that point. The Taoiseach in Washington brought a lot of people with him. There are people in the Houses of Congress in America who question me about our Government’s role and our parliamentary position and I tell them we are not anti-Israel or antisemitic but pro-people. Senator Higgins is right when she speaks about the destruction of a civic society and a people. We agree with her on that so we will not oppose the amendment and I will let the Senator come back in, but I wanted to make the point that we have been consistent.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22