Middle East
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

I am not sure the Irish Government can be any clearer in our position. The Taoiseach and all of us have said we are appalled by the actions of the Israeli Government. We consider this to be an attempt to completely eliminate an entire population and remove them from their land. Trade is an EU competence. We have moved unilaterally, which is not something that the Commission or others want to see happen, but more and more countries are now starting to move unilaterally because the Commission is not moving. As I said last week, we are failing people by not moving. We cannot unilaterally pull back from the EU-Israel Association Agreement. It is an EU-wide agreement. That is why we have advocated for the EU as a whole to focus on this matter.
I do not believe there is a consensus, no matter how much I push this at the moment, to suspend the entire Israel association agreement, or even the trade element of it at this stage. However, we have seen a consistent shift when it comes specifically to the illegal settlements. I refer to Italy and other countries where perhaps there had not been that clarity. Giorgia Meloni in her own statement at the UN last week was clear in saying that she would welcome further proposals specifically related to the illegal settlements in the West Bank. I will continue to advocate and engage with colleagues. I want to stress again, as was highlighted last week, that the immediate need is for more aid to get to people in Gaza and for us to be able to do more in that regard. The situation, particularly coming into the winter, is only going to get worse.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01