Ivana Bacik: Stop Ireland-Israel match, suspend EU-Israel deal

Go raibh maith agat, Cathaoirleach, and after their great win against the Netherlands last week I want to begin by wishing the Ireland women's team every success tonight as they play France Taoiseach, speaking of international sport, I want to raise the forthcoming Ireland-Israel football match Football fans and all of us horrified by Israel's genocide in Gaza are concerned that this game will go ahead anywhere and indeed we've been hearing from people who've contacted us in their droves with one message, they want to stop the game in October They want you and your government to take a stand against the normalization of genocide through sport They want you to take a stand against Israel's war crimes in Gaza, in the West Bank and in South Lebanon They want to stop the game from going ahead anywhere in the world Taoiseach, this is about more than just one football match Taking on Israel neither starts nor ends with this game And that's why Labour have been calling for full suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement That's why our party has called for the full passage of the Occupied Territories Bill to include a ban on both goods and services And we've been calling for stronger action to prevent US military refueling in Shannon Airport Taoiseach, this is about whether states that are guilty of grave crimes against humanity can continue to enjoy normal and indeed preferential treatment while atrocities continue. And this is not just about Israel It's not just about Netanyahu, Ben Giver and their acolytes. This is about Vladimir Putin too, Taoiseach Ireland and your government rightly condemn Russian aggression on Ukraine as we all should do Yet Irish-made Illumina is being exported to Russia for use in weapons which are killing Ukrainian civilians And indeed exports from Organish Illumina to Russia have dramatically increased They've doubled since the outset of Russia's brutal and illegal war We have spent years in Ireland debating hypothetical military deployments under the Triple Lock and I deeply regret that your cabinet is approving plans to abolish the Triple Lock today Despite strong national support for retaining it even expressed in your own public consultation yet despite that move You're failing to take practical economic measures against Israel and against Russia, states engaged in illegal wars of aggression Organish Illumina is undoubtedly a critical industrial facility for Europe and we're all conscious There are hundreds of jobs tied to the plant in Limerick So a solution must be found to protect those jobs, protect people's livelihoods But also ensure a ban on deadly exports to Russia Organish Refinery is owned by a Russian company with links to the Kremlin through sanctioned oligarch founder and the Irish Times has reported that 80% of Irish-made Illumina went to Russia in the first three months of this year Now your trade minister is disputing this figure and his own department is investigating the ownership of Organish At the same time your government is lobbying to keep Organish off sanctioned lists Taoiseach, it's easy to condemn the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza What's harder is taking meaningful action against Putin, against Netanyahu, against bullies So Taoiseach, will you use our influence as a neutral country, a proudly neutral country, to stand up for international law Stand up for protection of human life in Gaza and in Ukraine First of all, Deputy, I appreciate that you've raised quite a range of issues in that thing But if we could take, first of all, in terms of Israel and Gaza, the West Bank and the Middle East Ireland has taken a stand against Israel internationally And that's well recognized internationally and within the European Union And we continue on the humanitarian side to give very substantive contributions to the Palestinian Authority To UNRWA, up to nearly close to 150 million at this stage But of course, we've also, as you know, we've recognized the state of Palestine We also intervened in South Africa's International Court of Justice case against Israel under the Genocide Convention We made a submission by the Attorney General to the International Court of Justice Court on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the occupied territories Subsequently we co-sponsored a resolution at the UN General Assembly Seeking to implement the Court's advisory opinion We've been evacuating sick children along with other countries from Gaza We supported about 300 people to leave Gaza to travel to Ireland since the crisis began And we've done much more than that And in terms of the match involving the Football Association of Ireland UFEB and FIFA have their rules in terms of their members of their organizations Their rules suggest, not suggest, provide that the national football governance bodies must act independently and be free of political interference A series of countries have actually been suspended from international competition in the past because of political interference That's the reality of it And, you know, I have no truck, I'm not involved with FIFA or with UEFA for that matter But I do believe you are correct in saying that at EU level We should be dealing in a more robust and stronger way in terms of suspending the EU-Israeli Trade Association Agreement I've just met with the High Foreign Representative, Kaya Callas And in fact have been making that point And I think she's appreciative of the very strong feeling of opinion here in Ireland in respect of that The challenge has been to try and get a critical majority of member states to win the majority over to that opinion And we have written to the EU Council, I want the issue on the EU Council's meeting next week And we want that to see can we get a vote on the issue of the suspension of that association agreement Because I think that's the government taking its role The problem for the FAI and the football team, and it shouldn't be on them Is that there will be consequences for the football team And to be fair to the Irish football team, they've made a lot of ground recently, good success They're building on that platform You know, whether we like it or not, I don't control FIFA, I think FIFA should deal with this globally And so should UEFA in terms of its remit But the bottom line could be here that the football team suffers in terms of seedings and all the rest And we've got questions down the line in terms of other competitions ahead And I think we need to act at European Union level, I think it's a far more effective way to do it I didn't get a chance to get around to every other, but I'll come back to it Taoiseach, I would appreciate a response on the Illumina point And I do acknowledge, as the Labour Party does, the strong steps Ireland has taken at international level In support of the rights of the people of Palestine And I welcome your confirmation now that you've been engaging with Kayakallis on the suspension of the trade agreement That is welcome But there is more that can be done And I'm looking at the recent report from Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine She's identified Ireland as one of 63 countries that she says are complicit in the collective crime of genocide in Gaza A devastatingly serious charge So clearly there is much more we can do And I've outlined some of the measures that the Labour Party are calling on you to take And I would say this, on the football game Of course there are complexities But it was a Fianna Fáil government in 1999 that took a strong stance against Yugoslavia And rightly so, after the ethnic cleansing that they'd carried out in Bosnia and in Kosovo And that was a strong stance taken in the context of an international football game And I think many of us remember that That's the stance that football fans and others are now calling on your government to take in this case Taoiseach, please Just very quickly, you reject what Francesca Albanese said And I would have significant issues with much of what she has said on this issue And in terms of Ireland in particular I just want to get that on the record And to say in terms of, if I could take Ohanish We will work with the European Commission in respect of Ohanish But I do have to say to you When I heard you saying, you know, there's many, many jobs at stake And a solution must be found Like, let's all be honest in the house We will work with the Commission We're conscious there's about a thousand people directly Depending on it from a job perspective But it's not going to be simple And if a call is made, one way or the other The repercussions are as they are So I don't think you should try and sugarcoat it That somewhat is a magical way of sort of saying Find a solution to this and everything will be alright on the other side We're not in that space And so we will engage with the European Commission Because there was a view of Ohanish being important for the European supply chain In respect of Illumina It's a European competency Europe decides what gets sanctioned And Europe decides what we don't put on the sanctions list And Europe does not put Illumina on the sanctions list No more than it puts Illumina