Sorry, at the United Nations or in any other country-----

I did not interrupt.

In any other country, particularly those from Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority, people form queues after discussions to thank Ireland for its principled stand. That is what other countries say about Ireland. I include Jordan, Egypt - all of them. I am just saying that. It is only in here - maybe it is a good sign that people want us to be strong - we get the other kind of response. We have been at the forefront of condemning what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank. I am seeking more effective ways th…

There are two things I would say. First, we never abstain at a UN General Assembly high-level week meeting. The whole essence of the United Nations is that every nation is there, irrespective of how badly it is behaving. We could walk out on quite a number of nations contributing at the United Nations, if the truth be told.

The whole idea is to maintain some channels and dialogue. You listen, but you may not necessarily agree. We do not agree with Iran. I could name 101 countries that I might not agree with. Maybe it is not 100 but I could name quite a number of countries that I do not agree with. If everybody started walking out on everybody else in the UN, we would not have a UN.

This is the classic, simplistic campaigning mode that some Members are constantly in.

Once this passes, it will be something else. There is always another agenda and another issue. I understand fully that people are very angry. In Ireland, we are very angry, and I have made the point numerous times. We are angry because we understand. We want fair play, justice and self-determination for Palestinians, and we hate to see children being killed. That is natural and it is deep in the Irish psyche. We hate hunger and famine and we do everything we possibly can to end it. Let us be honest too. Deputy Copp…

They will listen to the US, though. They will listen if enough of a critical mass of countries can get together. That is the key.

Too many countries have been too slow in response to this, not at the football level but at the political level, the diplomatic level and the international level, and Europe has been divided. That is the problem.

We attended a meeting last week with four countries that were a year later than Ireland and Spain in recognising Palestine. The Deputy must admit deep down that that is where it lies, not with the football team.

I fully appreciate the work that the Every Child Matters campaign is doing. I support advocacy for children with additional needs. I have made the point that the Government has allocated an additional €646 million on top of the €3 billion already provided for special education. That has resulted in 34,000 students enrolling in special classes and special schools this year, an increase of 86%. Right across education, the increases have been quite staggering in meeting the demands. We then have the new in-school ther…

There has been comment from the Government. The Government has been very clear, and the Minister for sport has been very clear from day one, that it was a matter for the footballing community and for the FAI, who had to work within the UEFA rules and frameworks. The Government has always been of the position that the Irish soccer team should not be a casualty of this and should not suffer, rather than Israel. The outcome of Ireland not playing, by the way, was that Israel would gain and Ireland would not in the foo…

-----the undermining of the West Bank and so on.

I did not see the programme last evening but have made the point that the expansion in the number of teachers, SNAs, special classes and special schools has been exponential in the past five years. I do not know whether the programme acknowledged that or not but those are the realities. There has been a dramatic expansion in the past two years alone as well as in the past five years and that has created problems in terms of the physical capacities of individual schools. I did not know that a particular school was r…

The Government has made a lot of progress in helping students. Undoubtedly, accommodation is probably the greatest difficulty many students face in terms of attending third level education. We have expanded places. We have created new special places for particular disciplines and so on and expanded them. We have substantially improved and enhanced the student support schemes and reduced the fees to €2,500 permanently. The Minister for higher education is in discussions with the Minister for public expenditure in re…

There are two things. As the Deputy knows, the Parades Commission is independent so the Irish Government does not have influence over it in that sense.

Neither does the British Government because it is meant to be independent of everybody.

I know but let me answer the question to give context to it. The courts are independent so they have reached various adjudications. I have made my comments on the original decision of the Parades Commission. The Minister for foreign affairs has been in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Not everybody sees it the way we see it. We need to put that on the table as well. Therefore, we have to try to work collectively to build on the platform of good community relations that developed ove…

We would agree with that, actually, and that is why we are amending the legislation pertaining to assessments of need and are also making sure an assessment of need is not a prerequisite for a school placement, either in a special class or in a different context in the school. That flexibility should be there. Our aim is to try to get the therapies and the therapists providing the services. At the moment, because of High Court decisions and so on in the past, the pendulum has swung to assessment and not enough to d…

First, one of the biggest issues facing modern Ireland and the island of Ireland is domestic violence and violence against women. The Deputy mentioned ten murders. This is a real stain on our society. There is no loss of momentum. The Government is absolutely committed to this agenda in terms of accelerating refuge places. In addition to the work of the previous Government we have enhanced supports for women fleeing domestic violence, in particular. We will be supporting the walkout tomorrow, organised by Ms Murphy…