Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

The Government has consistently been a strong voice for the rights of Palestinian people. Whether Deputy Coppinger would like to accept that or not, or whether she agrees with me or not, that has always been the case. With every opportunity, be it within the EU or the international community, we have advocated for the rights of the Palestinian people and for a two-state solution. We have not just advocated. On top of the areas I have mentioned, where others have pulled back, we have provided humanitarian aid. We have continued to advocate for other organisations whose members I have met and whose colleagues were killed and murdered in this conflict. We have continued to advocate for them and to provide funding while making sure that at every level possible, at the UN level with our international partners, that we highlight the absolutely integral role they play. We continue to advocate for the suspension of the association agreement. For me, this is extremely important because the association agreement, or part of it, particularly when we talk of the West Bank, is at an EU level. This is where we have the greatest impact, where we effect change and how we bring about the response we need, which is that the killing stops, that what is happening in the West Bank stops, and that the pathway towards a two-state solution remains viable. When it comes to that, we have been part of an overall association that is working actively at the moment. While it seems difficult given what is going on, we are actively working to ensure that this remains the focus and the priority. We held one of the most recent conferences in Dublin with people from right across the globe, including Palestine, focused on how we can achieve that overall objective and how we can bring to bear our own experiences on our island of what seemed like an impossible solution in Northern Ireland, how we brought that to the fore, and how we brought the peace process to the fore. We are actively engaged with Palestine and with our counterparts. We are actively engaged with our colleagues right across the EU, and I am actively engaged with them to see what measures we can bring forward. We have to accept there is not a consensus in Europe at the moment when it comes to the association agreement and suspending it. I know from the discussions we had in the past few weeks that there was a shift and a change. My continued engagement with them will be to focus on how we can do more and how the EU can collectively respond and do more because I do not think we have done enough. I am happy to say, and I have said time and again, that at an EU level, I do not think we have done enough.
We have given a very clear commitment with regard to the occupied territories Bill. Legislation does not progress in the same way in different countries. Two countries have already introduced it but it was not through primary legislation and it was by a different route. At the same time, we know other countries are progressing it at the moment and I am actively engaged in working with them. Where we move in unison and where we act collectively together, we have a greater impact and we have a stronger response. This comes back to what is actually having an impact on the ground, how we are supporting people and what it is they need. When I was on the ground speaking to people, they said they need continued aid, they need continued support and they need us to advocate at a European level. That is the way to bring about the change that is needed.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07