EU-Israel Association Agreement: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Pauline Tully (SF), Cultural and Educational Panel

I am sharing time with Senator Collins. I have absolutely no problem with the motion. There is nothing in it I oppose. We all agree with its calling out of the absolutely terrible treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli regime. More than 70,000 people have died and God knows how many have been injured. People have had life-changing injuries, including lost limbs and severe burns. The destruction of property is such that Gaza is flattened at this stage, with no effort being made to rebuild the country. Aid, including food and medical supplies, cannot get through. A ceasefire is supposed to be in place, yet Palestinians are still being killed in both Gaza and the West Bank, as are people in Lebanon. Last week, we saw the atrocious treatment by the Israeli regime of the Irish and other EU citizens who were abducted in international waters. That has rightly been condemned in this House.
The motion does not go far enough. The EU has shown an absolute unwillingness to take meaningful economic or political measures to hold Israel accountable for its actions. There is complicity by several European states in what are widely regarded as illegal actions in Gaza. Several countries are still supplying weapons to Israel. Ireland must call this out, stand with our allies in Europe and take action. The time for talking is finished. We have all said the right things but that is not having any sort of impact. The Government needs to take decisive concrete action to address Israel's failure to comply with both its international and moral obligations.
Such measures should include implementing a comprehensive ban on all economic activity involving the illegal Israeli settlements. The occupied territories Bill has been delayed for eight years and, when it is implemented, it will be a watered-down version. We need to go back and implement it in its entirety. As Senator Black said, if Spain can do it, so can we, and we need to do it straight away.
There must be a prohibition on the use of Irish airspace for the transit of weapons destined for Israel. Ireland is a neutral country and we should not allow our airspace to be an avenue for anybody to transfer weapons to any war anywhere in the world, particularly to this conflict where there is genocidal action against the people of Palestine.
We should suspend all cultural and sporting relations with Israel, including participation in fixtures such as the UEFA Nations League game scheduled for later this year. It should not be down to individual team members to decide what action should be taken. FIFA should have taken that action or the Minister for foreign affairs should do so. We are told there will be consequences for the team. What about it? There are continuing consequences for the people of Palestine. They have suffered not just for a couple of years but for decades at the hands of Israeli regimes. It is time to call a halt.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28