Barry Heneghan: Demand a Free Vote on Occupied Territories Bill

Thank you, Cathaoirleach. I'd like to thank everyone who has spoken today on behalf of this Bill, and above all that, everyone who has spoken about the things that we are trying to do on behalf of the people. But first, I'd like to say a few words. It's not my job to be the spokesperson for the Bill that Francis Black, the speaker, has signed up to. I'm supporting this Government as an independent, and I've said multiple times it's how I believe to be as effective as possible. But in the programme for government that I signed up to, and while I was in negotiations, and I ran up to the office there to print it off, the programme for government stated, Progress legislation prohibiting goods from occupied Palestinian territories. Following the July 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion, continue to oppose and condemn Hamas and other groups which bring terror, support the UN and RWA, and advocate within Europe for increased support, work with partners in the EU to introduce further sanctions against Israel, settler activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That's what we signed up to, but that's not the case, and I do believe that there is clearly a delay. We need to pass the Occupied Territories Bill. Goods and services that Senator Francis Black has been working on with her team, I've met with her team, I've got the legal advice that it would withstand. And when we were told, and when the Occupied Territories Bill has been pushed down, we're constantly told that it wouldn't. We had an AV room where people came in and showed us, professionals, lawyers, everyone saying that it would withstand scrutiny. And even if it won't, don't we have the guts to show it and send it? Because the point is that we're doing everything we can. Minister, I wish that the Minister hadn't left, because in my constituency, Amir, he's Palestinian, his family is still in Gaza. When I met Amir, I've met him multiple times, how could I look him in the eye and say that I'm not doing everything that I am trying to do? He's a gorgeous, gorgeous man, his family are gorgeous, I've spoken to them, I've spoken to the foster house that he's in. The Palestinian groups across Ireland, we have a clear mandate. I want to thank all the Palestinian advocacy groups and everyone who has relentlessly pushed and pushed and pushed, but we have to give them something. I know and I do recognise the investments in care and state aid that we have given, Minister, but we need to do this now. I have a friend, Mikey Cullen, he's currently on the flotilla bringing aid and food and bringing and trying to break that illegal siege that has been held on Gaza. Minister, I have spoken on FaceTime while on one of those flotillas to young children, delighted to see that the West is listening to them, only for us to be illegally abducted, to be brutalised. I saw one of my colleagues on the boat get rammed by a jab, thrown on the ground and spat at by Israelis. But this bill is not anti-Israeli, it's not anti-Jewish. We had Israelis on the flotilla with us who weren't happy with what the regime is doing. So this bill is anti-genocide, it's anti-bombing of children. It's showing them that we're standing up to them and doing everything that we can. And Ireland's power hasn't been our size or our great military. And I do welcome the work that has been done on an EU level, getting the coalition of like-minded countries. However, when you look at Spain, you look at Slovenia, you look at the countries that have brought in legislative changes that we were talking to in those negotiations in the EU. Why can't we take a leaf out of their books? Minister, while I was on the flotilla as well, Eleanor Lanigan, the reason she was working for me as my PA, came over to the initial call. She had stage 4 cancer. She wanted to get on the flotilla and she said, feck it, I'm dying anyway. I said, no Ellie, you have to go back. But these men, these women who are constantly campaigning, of all ages and all genders, all walks of life, are showing us up in here. The bill, we've seen the reports, we've all seen the International Court of Justice, and it's already said that it's clear that we cannot pretend that we don't have a role here, Minister. That's why I support this bill. It doesn't break ties. It doesn't shut down dialogue or diplomacy. What it does is very simple. It says that Ireland won't allow our money, our trade, our country that we generate to fuel something that the world knows is wrong. How many reports, how many UN reports have shown, how many independent reports have shown that this has been happening? We've been here before, and I do welcome the contribution by Deputy Gibney on what we did back with Apartheid South Africa. We were ahead then. We're behind now, but it's not too late for us to catch up and run with the other people who are making a stand. I spoke to Fareed, a Palestinian refugee, on the phone last night and asking him about it. I told him to watch this tonight. He said, do it, Barry, go in there and tell him to do it. He doesn't understand. He's very much a lot more eager than I would. He's an amazing, amazing man, and everything that he's been through, to still have a smile on his face, to still be proud of his country, the way that he speaks and the photos that he showed me. Without this, they're clinging on to rubble. And to the people who say that sanctions won't make a difference, doing nothing won't make a difference. Sanctions will. Ireland's voice matters. And when a group of small nations do take a stand, history has shown that big ones do follow. About the bill and through the emails that I've been getting saying that it's anti-Semitic and that I'm anti-Semitic. I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm anti-starvation. I'm anti-using famine as a war tool. I'm anti-breaking every international law. And I'm anti-illegally abducting Irish citizens off the coast of an EU country and beating them. To the Israeli families who want peace and who have reached out to me, we do hear you. The people of Ireland hear you, and we want to have peace. And to the Palestinian families, to Milad's mother, we're watching. I hope you're watching now, Milad. Ireland's strength has never been its size, as I've said, but it always has been our courage. Minister, you've heard this a thousand times, but the same people who brutally abused our ancestors went over and did the same there. That regime is still in place. We have an international obligation to act when we know. The Geneva Convention didn't fall out of the sky. So it's time to be brave. It's time to do it, and it's time to allow a free vote on this bill.