Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Liam Quaide (SD), Cork East

It is becoming almost impossible to find words to describe the dehumanisation of Palestinians by the Israeli State. In recent days, a Palestinian family in the West Bank buried their 80-year-old father. Israeli settlers then arrived and claimed the cemetery land as part of a settlement. The family was forced to exhume his body and rebury him elsewhere under the watch of Israeli soldiers. This is all part of an escalating campaign of terror, displacement and annexation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Yet, the occupied territories Bill, which would cut trade links with these illegal settlements, remains in cold storage. That Bill was voted through by a majority of TDs in January 2019, introduced by current Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. We all know it has been obstructed because of diplomat pressure dressed up as legal complexities. History will not look kindly on the cowardice and dishonesty of the Government in respect of this Bill when such destruction and evil are being visited upon the Palestinian people. When will the Taoiseach finally intervene to progress this Bill?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12