Gino Kenny on Ireland, Netanyahu and the UN Walkouts

On 27 September, Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech at the UN. Many delegates left when he spoke. My question is, why did the Irish delegation not join the many people that refused to listen to a warmonger like Netanyahu? First of all, Deputy, thank you for your question. Ireland's membership with the United Nations is at the heart of our foreign policy. We take seriously our obligation to translate the values and principles of the UN Charter into action. And Ireland has had a longstanding policy of engagement throughout the entirety of the opening of the General Assembly at the United Nations. And in practice, this means our seat is occupied for each day of the high-level general debate and for every country's national statement. I mean, this demonstrates our commitment to diplomatic engagement and the importance of the United Nations as an institution. This sometimes means listening to viewpoints with which we disagree or where we have a fundamentally different perspective. And this is part of the conduct of international relations and our diplomacy at the United Nations. Ireland expresses its views clearly in our statements and in the use of our vote at the United Nations. And this has been a consistent policy of previous governments and one that I fully support. The urgent need to address the conflict in the Middle East remains a priority for Ireland in our work at the UN. This includes ongoing support for efforts to achieve a ceasefire and hostage release deal and ensure the supply of humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza and our efforts also, of course, to advance the two-state solution. We are also advocating for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and the war there and a de-escalation of tensions across the entire region. I made those points very clearly in my address to the UN Security Council on the 25th of September. And these points were further set out in Ireland's national statement in the UN General Assembly on the 30th of September. And fundamentally, if we are to adopt the assertion or the policy that you're suggesting, we'd be leaving our seat maybe on more than one occasion. We might be leaving our seat on quite a number of occasions. So the policy has been to listen, to argue, debate. Listening doesn't imply in any way an endorsement of anyone's policies. In normal times, I think kind of cardiality and protocol should go out the door. Cardiality and kind of protocol should go out the door. If you were there when this warmonger was speaking, would you have listened or would you have left? I mean, many, many people from across the world, particularly the developing world, had left because they did not want to listen to this man that has killed over 40,000 people in Gaza, including 21,000 children. Now, if there was ever a situation in the world where people take a principle stand and say, look, we don't want to give this man a platform or listen to him, it was then. So we have to go well beyond words in terms of this abnormal state and this warmonger. So I say to you again, Tánisdó, when will this government go beyond words? And look, I understand Ireland has been a little bit better than most European countries in terms of standing up to what's going on. But we can be much, much, much better in terms of going beyond words. We have gone beyond words, Deputy, and I think I regret that you don't have the generosity or the objectivity. Now, you said a little bit, like, come off it. Come off it, Deputy. No, I don't agree with you and I have to disagree fundamentally with you. Ireland has taken action. I won't be responding again. Ireland has taken action in respect of the entire situation in the Middle East, not least the recognition of a state of Palestine with Spain. We have called for a review of the association agreement with Spain. We led the way in terms of our participation in the international courts, supported the ICJ advisory opinion in calling for it to be deliberated in the first instance and also in terms of voting for the resolution after the ICJ advisory opinion and much, much more. What I find striking, Deputy, is that you never put down a question asking, did anybody walk out when Foreign Minister Lavrov spoke on behalf of Russia at the UN? We have called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador here and the Israeli ambassador. So both of them should be expelled for the war crimes they are committing. Now, you need to go beyond words. So one of the things that we've been calling for is in terms of enacting the Occupied Territories Bill. Now, can you imagine if you've done that, even though it's a kind of very limited move against the Zionist state, but can you imagine the signal that would send to the European Union, the world, that Ireland, a small country, is standing up against the Zionist state that is enacting terrible, terrible war crimes against the people of Palestine? Now, why can you not do that? I don't believe that there's a legal advice out there that is saying you can't do it. Of course you can do it. Of course you can do it. But it takes guts and it takes guile to do it. But your government will not do it because you're afraid to blow back from the United States. Essentially, that's what it is. But have principle, have guile, and say, look, we're going to stand up and have sanctions against the Israeli state. Deputy, first of all, I'll deal with the Occupied Territories Bill. There's a question down later in respect of that. I believe in diplomacy and diplomatic channels. And that has to be maintained. You don't, because you've already said you'd... Sorry, I didn't interrupt you, Deputy. Can I may have the floor, please? I think you could walk out for 10 ambassadors or permanently represent the UN. Because we don't endorse as many countries' policies we do not endorse. But if everybody was to adopt the policy of walking out in each other's speeches, you wouldn't have a UN General Assembly. And at least with all its faults and all its flaws, the UN is the last bastion we have for the multilateral order. It's the only place where nearly every country in the world comes together to at least develop a dialogue and develop an exchange of communications. That's the essence of diplomacy. And I think that's important. I mean, and that involves many other... I mean, the Sudan crisis. There's the Russian war against Ukraine. There's the breach of human rights in many countries across the world. You could be walking out every second. Or Perma Rep could be up and down like a... And that's the reality. I'm not trivializing it. I'm not trivializing it. No, it's not trivializing it. There's terrible wars. There are terrible wars going on at the moment in the world, which is shocking. And which we condemn. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to... We're going to... We're going to... You