Helen McEntee: Urges EU Action on Gaza and Settlements

Thank you Cathaoirleach. Cathaoirleach, across Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, civilians are living through devastation, fear and displacement on a scale that would shock the conscience of the world, or should shock the conscience of the world. Families are burying children, communities are being destroyed, humanitarian conditions are catastrophic. We know this. I think we all agree to this. And while international attention has shifted in recent weeks towards the broader regional crisis involving Iran, I want to say clearly today that Palestine will not be pushed aside and it will not be forgotten. The suffering of the Palestinian people is not secondary to other geopolitical events. It must remain at the centre of international attention and international action. And I have advocated at every council for this that I've attended since being appointed in November. We know there is no meaningful peace in Gaza and there is no real ceasefire in Lebanon while civilians continue to live under threat and violence continues. We urgently need de-escalation, we need diplomacy and a path towards a lasting political solution. No temporary pauses that leave civilians trapped in fear and insecurity. Ireland remains deeply concerned, we all are deeply concerned about the conflicts across the Middle East and the Gulf region. I continue to follow developments closely but importantly remain in close contact with EU and regional partners in responding to this crisis. I raised these concerns directly again this week at our Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. I spoke at length about the situation in Palestine and the urgent need for Europe to act with greater resolve. Ireland's position has been consistent and clear. I believe, as we all do, that Palestinians have the right to live in dignity, freedom and security in their own state. I believe Israelis and Palestinians both deserve peace and safety and I believe international law must apply equally to all states in all circumstances. That principle guides my approach and government's approach to this conflict, to the measures that I will outline today. Kirilak, Ireland's position as I've said has been steadfast. We remain committed to working with key partners to end the conflict in Gaza, to advance a sustainable peace plan ending this conflict and addressing most importantly the immense challenges facing Palestinians in Gaza and the wider implications for regional stability and security. I remain committed to supporting a unitary Palestinian state consisting of Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem and I remain committed to achieving a just and lasting peace where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in two states, Israel and Palestine, in peace, security and dignity within the agreed borders. I've spoken directly with my Palestinian counterpart many times in recent weeks again and assured her of Ireland's full support for the Palestinian people and for the implementation of the two-state solution. Since taking office I've also taken a number of concrete actions which we'll outline today. Throughout the ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025 it offered a moment of hope and relief. A reality for civilians in Gaza however remains unbearable. Since that agreement began 834 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 2,300 injured in ongoing Israeli military operations. These are not just numbers we know, they're children, their parents, their families, their entire communities whose lives have been shattered. The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated even further since the outbreak of the conflict involving Iran. Border closures have intensified already desperate conditions. There remains one crossing the sole operational entry point for aid and commercial supplies creating severe bottlenecks that continue to limit deliveries and deepen shortages and I saw this in my visit to the region at the beginning of the year. Today the people of Gaza continue to endure unimaginable suffering. Access to water, health care, shelter remains wholly inadequate. Diseases linked to overcrowding and poor living conditions are rife. None of us, none of us who hear these stories of parents trying to shield their children from rats and infestation can remain untouched by the horror of what is unfolding. We're all feeling this and want to do everything that we can to support them. Every statistic there's a human being trying to solve and get through another day. I don't believe anybody can look at the humanitarian situation and conclude that the international response has been adequate, it hasn't. That is why I've consistently called for and we as a government have for unrestricted humanitarian access into and throughout Gaza. Israel must immediately remove restrictions on aid access, facilitate the delivery of essential supplies and services throughout Gaza, not withstanding the wider regional security situation. All crossings must be reopened. When I traveled to Rafa earlier this year, my first bilateral visit outside of this role, I saw firsthand the scale of suffering, the urgency of the need and most importantly I spoke to those who are engaging on the ground, who are doing a job, who've lost colleagues in this conflict, simply trying to help and to protect those who need our help the most. That visit and those conversations, that engagement that I had, can I say stayed with me and has reinforced my belief that we need to do everything that we can. Collectively we need a more unified and a stronger response from Europe. It's reinforced my determination that we must be clear and act concretely, but as I said we need more happening at a European level. During that visit I announced 42 million euro in assistance through the government to the people of Palestine who urgently need that support, but in particular making sure that that funding is provided to organizations like UNRWA, for the Palestinian Authority and many, many important organizations on the ground. I've also remained focused on the extremely serious situation in the West Bank. We all know that this continues to deteriorate rapidly. Israeli military operations have caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and homes. At least 40,000 people have been displaced since January 2025. The scale, the speed, the severity of displacement and demolitions is unprecedented and continues in an atmosphere of impunity. Settlement expansion, forced displacement and settler violence have accelerated dramatically. Entire Palestinian communities are being pushed from their homes while extremist violence continues with impunity. In recent weeks the Israeli Security Cabinet, as we know, approved 34 new settlements in the West Bank, the largest number approved at one time by any Israeli government. This is again bringing the total number of new settlements to a vast increase of 78 percent in the number of total settlements. These are not isolated developments, they form part of an established pattern designed to create a new status quo in the occupied Palestinian territory. Let's call it what it is. These actions consistently contravene international law. I agree with you on this, Deputy, we're not disagreeing on any of this. They threaten the viability of the two-state solution, altogether something that we absolutely support. The Israeli parliament also passed a bill on the 30th of March mandating death by hanging as a default punishment for West Bank residents convicted of terrorist acts by military corps. I utterly condemn this law passed by the Israeli parliament, expanding the scope of the death penalty, reviving its implementation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. We oppose the death penalty in all cases, in all circumstances. The right to life is absolutely fundamental and universal, but we are all particularly concerned by the discriminatory nature of this legislation as it relates to Palestinians. Look, I fully understand and again I share the depth of feeling of many people in Ireland, in this house, in our gallery, about the ongoing suffering of Palestine and Palestinian people. People want to see action, they want to see accountability, they want to know that international law still matters and that civilian lives matter equally. And that is why I want to explain clearly, despite sharing many of the concerns that motivate this bill, that I don't believe this legislation is the most effective or legally sustainable path forward. The bill before the house in practice would amount to a blanket prohibition on trade in all goods and certain services between Ireland and Israel. In effect it amounts to a boycott, divestment and sanctions approach with respect to Israel. The government does not support that approach, although we fully recognise the right of individuals and indeed organisations to make their own decisions in this regard. We do not operate a unilateral domestic sanctions regime. Instead Ireland implements EU sanctions and UN sanctions through the EU framework. This bill would amount to a blanket ban without any exemptions or derogations. It's well understood that EU sanctions regimes are designed carefully to avoid and to mitigate unintended consequences. However this would include consequences for civilian populations, access to essential goods, food, medicines, emergency supplies. This bill again would amount to a blanket ban without exemptions for any of these. And so there's important reasons why this approach has not generally been taken in modern sanctions regimes relating to other conflicts and the government does not believe here that this is the right approach. I believe and this government believes that the strongest and most impactful route remains coordination at EU level, particularly in relation to the Israeli settlements and trade connected to the occupied Palestinian territories. This is an area where Ireland has and will show leadership. I've repeatedly argued for stronger action including sanctions on extremist settlers, restrictions relating to illegal settlements and the suspension for trade provisions under the EU-Israel association agreement. Earlier this week EU member states reached political agreements at our foreign affairs council to sanction Israeli extremist settlers, entities and those enabling violence in the West Bank. That step I absolutely appreciate was overdue but it matters. On the 18th of April Ireland alongside Spain and Slovenia we wrote to the High Representative Kayakalis again expressing deep concern regarding Israeli government actions calling for urgent discussions of the association agreement. Ahead of that discussion I was clear in calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement. The EU's review of the agreement in 2025 found Israel to be in clear breach of its obligations. That situation continues and that is why with my colleagues from Spain and Slovenia we wrote to trade to ensure that this was raised at the council and that we make progress and take action on it. At the council this week I again called on EU partners to suspend the trade related provisions of the agreement but we need to go further and we will continue to press for further action because if the international community, if Europe continues to issue statements without consequences the credibility of international law for all of us itself is weakened. The House will recall that on the 19th of July 2024 the International Court of Justice delivered its advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, a case in which Ireland alongside more than 50 other states made written and oral submissions. Since then Ireland has continued to push for meaningful action at an EU level including restrictions on trade connected to illegal settlements. At this week's Foreign Affairs Council again I and others called on the European Commission to bring forward proposals ahead of the June council meeting with a view to taking a vote on this issue so not just a vote to ban or to suspend the trade element of the EU-Israel association agreement but that we would take a vote with a view to banning trade with the occupied territories. In Brussels this week what I can say is a growing number of member states either joined this call sought a vote or expressed a readiness to consider such a proposal and this is the first that I have seen in the number of councils that I have attended. Again I appreciate that this is far beyond time it matters though it is progress and we need to continue and I will continue to progress and to press for this. Ireland has also consistently underlined the important distinction between the state of Israel and Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law which are not recognized as part of Israel by the European Union, its member states and the overwhelming majority of UN member states. This distinction again is important. At the same time Ireland will continue to take action domestically. Here at home work is continuing on the commitment in the program for government to progress legislation prohibiting goods from occupied Palestinian territories following the ICJ advisory opinion. In June 25 last summer the government approved the general scheme of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory prohibition of importation of goods bill 2025. The joint committee on foreign affairs and trade subsequently held hearings received submissions and represented a broad range of perspectives all of which were then fed to me and my department in government. The primary purpose of that legislation is to prohibit the importation of our into Ireland of goods originating in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and I do want to thank Senator Black for her work in this regard and for her continued engagement with government. Legally the regulation of services is significantly more complex we've said this at an EU level than the regulation of goods and that is why I've been engaging with the Attorney General who has provided detailed and extensive advice on whether the inclusion of services would be permissible but also how we would progress this legislation more broadly. We've sought clarification on a number of different elements of this legislation. Anything that we introduce we need to make sure that it's legally robust that it's capable of withstanding challenge but that we can advance our broader policy objectives effectively and what I've always said and government has always said is where we work with member states with colleagues together that we are stronger and so I'm engaging closely with my Dutch colleagues, Spanish colleagues, Slovenian colleagues, Belgian government colleagues as well regarding their own approaches where other governments are now moving also with legislation. I remain absolutely committed to taking meaningful action in response to breaches of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights and I remain convinced that action at EU level would ultimately have the greatest impact. We need to make sure that what we are doing has an impact that it changes the behaviour of the Israeli government and above all that it brings peace and that it brings solutions for those in Gaza and the West Bank and for Palestine more broadly. I want to be clear that I distinguish between the actions of the current Israeli government and the Israeli people. Ireland's goal has always been to focus on peace, security and dignity for both Palestinians and Israelis. This is a goal shared by many Israeli citizens themselves. Our own history on this island I think teaches us of the danger of division, dehumanization and endless cycles of violence. It also teaches us the importance of political courage and international support in building peace. This month marks two years since Ireland recognised the state of Palestine alongside Spain and Norway, later joined by Slovenia. I remain convinced that recognition was the right decision. It was taken against the backdrop of an intolerable humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the shrinking space for Palestinian life in the West Bank and the urgent need for injecting fresh momentum into efforts towards a just and lasting peace. At the time some argued it would make no difference. I disagree and I disagree now and then. Since that decision international momentum behind Palestinian recognition has grown significantly including across Europe. We've tried consistently to show leadership not just in words but in action and to that effect in January following my visit to the region I hosted a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution where Ireland shared lessons from our own peace process with regional partners and other states committed to peace and we will continue in that regard. If I could just finally say by this I believe we must make sure that our measures are effective, that they are legally sound and capable of building broader international support. Nobody should mistake my opposition or government's opposition to this bill for silence or indifference. I will continue to press for stronger international action. I'll continue to advocate for accountability. I'm committed to progressing the Occupied Territories Bill and I will continue to speak clearly about the unbearable suffering being endured by civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon because Palestine is being overlooked and the world cannot allow this suffering to become normalized. Thank you.