Sinéad Gibney
Dublin Rathdown · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unfortunately, those are still not entirely clear. Although the Windsor Framework did look to enshrine that policy of no diminution of rights and the non-divergence of rights on either side of the Border, that has not been clear in how it is going to play out.”
“I want to raise one specific sector. Within my portfolio, the culture sector is a good example of where we could see a much better offering in the joining together of the two economic activities. For example, we have a very vibrant production sector for film and television.”
“The other word that is important to bring into any economic discussion and fiscal discussion around a united Ireland is "holistic" because, unfortunately at times, I see the Government looking at the economy as a discrete part of society and neglecting things that fall outside of economic discussion, economic imperatives, and policymaking…”
“There are ways that we can see how our governance of this jurisdiction can be improved simply by the opportunities that will be presented by opening up constitutional change and the discussions that we are all going to have about how we govern ourselves right now and how we may govern an entire island of Ireland.”
“When the Minister of State referred to office roles in Brussels, was he describing roles in NATO headquarters? The international forces the Minister of State is describing are exactly like the coalition that invaded Iraq.”
“I look forward to coming back to the topic of the triple lock in a few questions' time. I have read with extreme concern the reports over the past week on the lack of support provided by the Department of Defence to Women of Honour, whose members are participating in the Defence Forces tribunal.”
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“There are children in these prisons as well. The settler policy is essentially allowing Israel to distance itself from what is happening on the ground. Israel brings in settlers who are violent and extremist people, no question, but that is done on purpose so that the Government can slightly distance itself and say it is the settlers who are doing it. Settlers will take the land of a Palestinian family while they remain in their home right beside it. This family will have to watch as Israeli settlers farm their land, violate them and pour aggression after aggression on to them. That is what is happening and it is allowing Israel, as a State, to distance itself from it. It is insidious. Israel is doing this so that when it annexes the West Bank, it will be an easy process for it. There is no question on the "if".”
“One of the things I am hearing again and again from civil society in Palestine is that the situation for political prisoners is beyond at the moment. It is too much. There are 10,000 people in 20 prisons. Nineteen of those prisons are in Israel so those people cannot be visited by their loved ones. An estimated 50% of those political prisoners have had no trial or charge laid against them. We all know now that the death penalty looms over these people because the Knesset has approved that. In those prisons, torture is routine. We have heard the stories. It is not isolated. It is systemic torture, rape and brutality. Scabies is allowed to flourish in the prisons. The Israelis will not treat it because they do not want to and other diseases are starting to flourish as well. This is what is happening right now, on a daily basis.”
“I will get to that in a minute but two and half years ago we were discussing things like "Have they really bombed a hospital?", "Was it an accident?" or "Was it intel that was dodgy?" Then we had the propaganda flowing from Israel to say that it had not committed any war crimes and this was all legitimate. Slowly, slowly, our respect for Israel's legitimacy was eroded over that period. It is really important to remember how we got here because now we are at a point where life is so depraved in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. We have to just think about this for a minute. I was graphic this morning and I am going to get a little graphic again now. Apologies, I am not doing this gratuitously but I want us to remember the agony and the persecution that people are going through.”
“I urge the Minister to listen to those voices, to listen to the people who are talking about what it is like on the ground and who are seeking that self-determination beyond the two-state solution and that right to return. These are the people we must all listen to now and I urge the Minister to do that. I have also been prompted to cast my mind back to two and half years ago and to think about what those first few months were like for us all when the genocide started or, rather, escalated into the phase that we are now in because obviously this has been going on for decades.”
“One of the lines from that which frustrates us all is when the Government says it is a leader, that it is doing everything it can, that it is lauded internationally and that the Palestinians thank us for it. I find that last part really hard to take. Of course they are going to thank us for recognising the State of Palestine and for providing aid. Of course they are not going to turn their back on that but I want the Government to delve a little deeper. I want it to go beyond the Palestinian authority. There are parts of civil society in Palestine who will say that the Palestinian authority is an Israeli mechanism. It is there to support a two-state solution but it will oppress leaders who are emerging from civil society right now in Palestine.”
“I have heard Palestinian civil society contributions recently on how five generations of refugees will still name their village of origin in the West Bank or in Gaza, even though it is now occupied or under rubble. They will speak of how they cannot go outwards because of the occupation and so they must go upwards. Cities become refugee camps because of the very geographical fragmentation that Israel has imposed on Gaza, the West Bank and now on Lebanon. Some of the research that I have done recently and some of the people I have spoken to in civil society have raised a question for me that I want to throw out today. I have raised this in the last couple of days in various debates.”
“There will be no opportunity for a two-state solution unless urgency is brought to the global response to Israel. That, for me, is deeply concerning because the people of Palestine are looking on as the supposed tools of international law are completely flouted on a daily basis in their existence but also in our response, as states, globally. They are looking at that response of a two-state solution slip from their grasp and are wondering how they are ever going to have their right to return realised. The phrase that is not in the Minister's speech, which we need to focus on again as international actors, is that right to return.”
“We are so focused on the atrocities that Israel is committing, the crimes it is committing and the methods it is using in its ethnic cleansing and expunging of people from the land they are from, that we lose sight of what we are actually trying to work towards here, which is the self-determination of the Palestinian people. I am really heartened to hear that it is, as she said in the top of her speech, something that she is still absolutely focused on. I will also pick up on the two-state solution the Minister mentioned throughout her speech. Although that is obviously the stated goal of the Palestinian authority and most governments, it is rapidly slipping away from us. Israel is building its cities and its occupation on top of Gaza.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Like many others I am really disappointed that the Bill has taken this pathway, first, that it has taken so long to get here, despite the Government's electoral commitment and, second, that it is now watered down. Despite what the Minister said in her speech, everybody on the Opposition benches will agree that it is watered down. I will speak first, as the Minister did, to the existing situation and what is going on and then I will get into the nuts and bolts of the legislation itself a little later on. I am really glad that the Minister used the term "self-determination" because we have lost sight of that, a little bit, at times.”
“Teastaíonn fís uainn do ghnólachtaí, féilte agus poist san earnáil seo a thacaíonn leis an bpobal, lenár sochaí agus lenár gcultúr, ní hamháin ó thaobh airgid de, ach ó thaobh dea-thionchar ar na gnéithe sin. We need a vision for tourism in Ireland that celebrates our culture and our communities and that benefits everyone, from the minimum wage worker in a hotel to the young family living on the Aran Islands. We can have it but only if we are serious about reforming our attitudes and policy to look beyond just money spent to where and how that money is spent and who, ultimately, benefits.”
“They are proud to provide good service to their customers and are a key part of what makes Ireland the country of céad mile fáilte. We want to see a strong, resilient tourism industry but we will not be able to manage that if we do not tackle these issues. We must tackle staff turnover and invest in quality jobs in tourism. We urgently need to tackle low pay, ensure enforcement of employment law, and address the poor conditions faced by so many workers who are absolutely vital to Ireland's tourism industry and who love their jobs but who are being badly let down by the current practices this report has exposed. Teastaíonn uaillmhian uainn san earnáil turasóireachta.”
“Deirdre Curran in the University of Galway recently published a report on the experiences of hospitality workers in this country, the vast majority of whom work in workplaces where tourists are a key part of the customer base. The findings were stark, but not really surprising, given what we already know about pay and conditions in this sector. Around 52% of workers surveyed did not get the breaks to which they were entitled, just under half did not get a written employment contract and one in five said they did not get their holiday pay. There were tales of physical, verbal, and psychological abuse faced by these workers. It is also important to flag, however, that many of these people love the work they do. They carry it out with pride.”
“We need to ensure the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and Fáilte Ireland in particular, view the support of these initiatives and festivals as part of their remit. We cannot leave this solely to a very underfunded Arts Council, particularly when these festivals clearly support and are a part of regional tourism. I have been having a lot of conversations with people in this space and there is frustration about falling between stools in different Departments. The success of our festivals in drawing in tourists cannot be underestimated. We need to deal urgently with the issues that are leaving them caught in a policy gap between Departments. Finally, I want to raise the issue of the jobs supported by tourism. Tourism is a key sector of our economy but it is also where we see the poorest quality employment. Dr.”
“Arts-led festival organisers are highlighting that they appear to be losing out in favour of more commercially-led tourism events, despite the fact that arts-led festivals like this are exactly the things that draw people to Ireland as tourists. They come here to experience our culture and society but if we do not acknowledge that in support schemes for tourism initiatives, these festivals will be smaller and less engaging, and will eventually disappear altogether, one by one. This does not just impact the festival themselves, but the hotels people stay in, the restaurants they eat in and the businesses they go to. They represent huge value to the Irish economy, as the Minister acknowledged, particularly to indigenous Irish businesses.”
“We also need to ensure that when these communities generate countless euros for the Irish economy, they see a dividend for that instead of being further eroded as communities. Ba chóir go mbeidh bua eacnamaíoch na turasóireachta ag dul chuig an bpobal féin. Má tá turasóireacht ag cur brú ar an bpobal, caithfimid a chinntiú go bhfuilimid ag tabhairt cothrom na Féinne do na pobail sin. In the effort to make ourselves palatable and commercialised for tourists, we risk losing the culture and society which brought them here in the first place. I want to raise issues that were highlighted recently by the arts festival organiser, Naoise Nunn, with the strategic tourism festival investment scheme, where Kilkenny Animated is seeing a 75% cut in funding over three years.”
“We have seen in Spain and other countries the impact it can have if the approach to tourism is not properly planned and balanced. We do not need to look abroad to see this, however. If one goes to west Cork or Connemara, one will see holiday homes sitting empty or on Airbnb, while young people in the same community cannot afford to buy a house and start a family. One will see hordes of chain tourist shops selling the same gimmicky image of what Ireland is, while local small businesses and artisans cannot afford the premises costs and are priced out by cheap goods made overseas. We need a system that takes into account the housing, infrastructural and community needs of areas around the country when we develop tourism.”
“Over-tourism is a serious problem that is already having an impact on people and communities across Ireland. Nobody is denying that tourism is important to a lot of people in this country. For many, particularly in areas along the west coast, it is either their livelihood or the livelihood of others in their community. On our islands and across many communities, the tourism income they take in each summer is the difference between continuing to exist as a community and not. However, these communities are also seeing the amount of money returned to them decrease, year on year, as big companies take more control in the sector, with tourism becoming a burden on community infrastructure instead of a boon for the people.”
“The key point I want to make around sustainability and the vision for tourism is that tourism is supposed to serve the community, not the other way around, but many communities up and down this country have seen that balance reversed, unfortunately. There is a growing awareness of this issue globally as well. In the effort to make ourselves palatable and commercialised for tourists, we risk losing the culture and society which brought the tourists here in the first place. I also want to talk about the fact that tourism is a key sector of our economy but it is also where we see some of the poorest quality employment, sadly. I will start on the over-tourism point. As I said, tourism is supposed to serve our communities and not the other way around, but up and down the country, that balance has been reversed.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on tourism today. I also welcome the information the Minister has provided on the plans in this space and the development that he is pursuing. The points that I want to make do not take away from any of that. I acknowledge the work that is being done but I have some concerns and I am sharing them today in the hope of being helpful to the Minister in the development of what he calls sustainable tourism. The point is that sustainable tourism has to be more than just a phrase. It has to be thought through. I also want to correct Deputy Doherty because it is actually Kerry that is the loveliest county in Ireland. Donegal is a close second and I am spending my holidays there this summer.”
“The Minister of State and his colleagues know what is going on. They know the tools that are available to them. They know the words of the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which say that we will save future generations from the scourges of war. The Government knows it has the ability to do this. The final quote I want to finish on was from that same group. They said that the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people are not crying out now for us to save Palestine or for us to save Lebanon. They are crying out for us as a globe to save humanity. Do the one thing that is in front of you; stop the game.”
“The Minister of State's colleagues have been there and they have told us this. They know what is going on. The Minister of State will excuse me for getting graphic for a minute but they have heard of the decapitated bodies coming back to Palestinian communities. They have heard of and they have witnessed the atrocities that are going on there, including the not isolated but systemic rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners. They have seen this. The Government has seen this and in response chooses inaction. We are so angry as a party, as a people, as a football community and as a globe that this is being allowed to continue. We can all see it with our own eyes. The Government obfuscates, dances on the heads of pins and tells us the reasons it cannot act. We cannot tolerate it any more.”
“What will happen is that a domino set of actions will follow, which means that we will not be the ones penalised and our sports people will not be the ones penalised but it will be Israel who will be penalised because they will not be able to stand in resistance to the actions that we start. That is what boycott, divestment and sanctions do. That is how it works and it seems to be lost on you guys completely. This genocide is unique because we are all seeing the atrocities. We are all aghast because the other thing we are seeing is the inaction of governments the world over. I mentioned Al-Haq earlier. One of its other contributors was really powerful in their description. They said that not only is the inaction clear from governments but those same governments have ministers who have been to Palestine.”
“As other colleagues have said, and as I called out to the Minister of State last night when he read out the exact same speech, the whole idea about this is that there is not the same consensus in the international community about Israel as there has been for Russia and other countries where we have seen a united action against them. We do not have that. In the absence of that, and in the Minister of State's now acknowledged acceptance that we do not have that, what we have to try to do one by one, as individual beings and as individual nations, is to stand up and say "No, we will not take that".”
“The Ministers of State literally just changed the numbers at the top of the documents. This is the level of engagement they have given to this motion and to our work as parliamentarians to represent people who are appalled at the thought of us playing Israel in a soccer game. That is all the Ministers of State bothered to do; just change the number on a motion and read the script back to us. The Minister of State's take on our motion is simply wrong. We are not trying to penalise the sporting community. We are not trying to set back Olympians and athletes in any sport. That is not what we are trying to do. It displays for me that the Minister of State does not understand what boycott actually means.”
“I thank everybody for their incredible contributions today. We have heard some really impassioned, very well informed and evidence-based detailed contributions from everybody on these opposition benches, unified in our message for the Minister of State to stop the game. What a shame that those contributions fall not just on deaf ears but there are no ears here as there is barely any representation from the Government. I welcome that the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, has been able to return here to the debate. I know he did explain in advance that he had another engagement but honestly it did not really make any difference because the words we heard delivered from his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Timmy Dooley, were the exact same words we heard last night in a debate on a different motion. I am just shocked at that.”
“The Minister of State will have a whole lot of it coming at him because we are indignant at this genocide and the impunity Israel is enjoying.”
“In our role as Opposition Members, who have to hold the Government to account, we ask the Government: where is its empathy? Where is its leadership, and will it stop the game? There is precedent here. As we all know, a Fianna Fáil Government previously refused entry to players on similar grounds. Le linn cinedhíothaithe, níl aon rud neodrach faoi pháirt a ghlacadh i gcluichí spóirt leis an tír atá i mbun an chinedhíothaithe sin. Caithfidh muid seasamh a thógáil, mar a tugadh in aghaidh na Rúise, in aghaidh na hAfraice Theas le linn apartheid agus in aghaidh na hIúgslaive. I ask the Minister of State to please listen to what we have to say and hear our indignation. His colleague, the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, said that we – my party and I – show indignation.”
“It can inoculate the FAI from any potential sanctions that may come its way. It can support the association in all of the fallout from any such exclusion. The Minister of State and the Government can interact with the governments from the nations involved in this Nations League so that we have a united approach. That is what boycott is and the motion offers the Government the opportunity to boycott, to be leaders in this and to gain the momentum that we need to see for push back against this genocide. One of the other lines I want to pick up on is that the Government constantly says that we, in the Opposition, do not have a monopoly on empathy. Nobody on the Opposition benches has ever claimed that we have a monopoly on empathy, but we do have empathy, and we choose to display it.”
“I also heard her at an event later the date. She spoke about how when the occupied territories Bill was originally proposed in 2018, the Irish flag was raised in Bethlehem and that people in Gaza heralded that finally a country was seeing what was going on and that it was responding. She says now that she is ashamed of Ireland's lack of action and that the words the Government speaks and the limited number of actions that it is so keen to list out again and again pale into insignificance compared to what we actually need to see in terms of action. There are some many things that it can do as a government to support the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, in pushing back against UEFA on its failure to exclude Israel from the Nations League competition. Primarily, it can support the FAI in stopping the game and not playing.”
“What we essentially offer is an opportunity for the Government parties to act as leaders, to stand up and say that we will not stand for this, we will distance ourselves from Israel and that we will wholeheartedly take part in the boycott, divestment and sanction movement that is growing globally to respond to the genocide in Gaza. I also want to pre-empt some lines that the Government seems to always throw out when this is debated and when we discuss Gaza, which we discuss a lot in this Chamber. We are sick of hearing on the Opposition benches, and what is wearing really thin, is the continued line that this Government is a leader and is leading out in its response to Palestine. Dr. Susan Power is the head of legal at Al-Haq, an organisation in Palestine. She spoke in briefing rooms in Leinster House and at a committee meeting.”
“I thank everybody who has worked on the motion and on the communications around it, the many civil society groups that have been tirelessly working on this campaign to stop the game, including the Stop the Game group and Irish Sport for Palestine, and many other volunteers who are working hard to really express a growing sentiment in society that this is not okay and that we cannot stand alongside Israel in a sporting fixture of this nature and allow that to be a sportswashing exercise for the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and in Lebanon. I will talk through some of the details of the motion.”
“I offer our sympathies, as a party, to the victim and family of the awful incident in Belfast on Monday, condemn the racist violence that has ensued and call for calm in all communities in the North at this moment. I am proud to move the motion, which seeks to ask this Government to advocate for the exclusion of Israel from all international sporting competitions and to support Irish sporting bodies that are asked to compete in competitions where Israel has not been excluded.”
“But if the body refuses to make a decision, then we will have a decision to make"; — in February 2022, FIFA and UEFA banned Russia from all club and international games, after Poland and Sweden refused to play World Cup qualifiers with the team; — on 5th December, 2025, the Taoiseach described RTÉ's decision to boycott the Eurovision as "an act of solidarity"; — Irish athletes, such as Wheelchair Rugby player Alan Dineen, have stated they will refuse to play against Israel in international competitions; — the removal of a fixture from grounds within the Republic of Ireland does not represent an appropriate measure, while the support of this measure is a continued endorsement of the fulfilment of fixtures against a State currently in breach of international law; and — on 28th May, 2026, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport and the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, announced their intention to boycott the upcoming Ireland-Israel game; and calls on the Government to: — advocate, at national and international level, for Israel to be excluded from all international sporting competitions, as long as the genocide and illegal occupation continues; and — support Irish sporting bodies to boycott fixtures, events, and competitions, where Israel is competing, as long as the genocide and illegal occupation continues.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: agrees that: — the State of Israel is committing an ongoing genocide in Gaza, something which both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have publicly acknowledged; — since 7th October, 2023, nearly 75,000 people have been murdered by Israel in Gaza, including more than 20,000 children; — of the more than 170,000 Palestinians who have been injured in Gaza since October 2023, 43,000 have sustained life-changing injuries, including amputations, spinal cord injuries and severe mobility impairments; — all of Gaza's infrastructure, including water, energy, healthcare and education systems, have been systematically and deliberately destroyed by Israel; — Israel has repeatedly violated a so-called ceasefire agreement that was announced in October 2025, with nearly 1,000 Palestinians being killed since then; — on 28th May, Israel's Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, confirmed that he was committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, through large-scale forced migration of Palestinians from Gaza; — on the same date, 28th May, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that he had directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to increase its occupation of Gaza to 70 per cent of the territory; — since October 2023, nearly 1,500 Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank; — violent settlers are acting with complete impunity in the West Bank, murdering Palestinians, razing Palestinian villages to the ground, and forcibly expelling Palestinians from their homes; — since 2020, Israeli courts have not handed down any jail sentences to settlers found responsible for the deaths of Palestinians; — Israel's bombardment of Lebanon has intensified in recent weeks, with approximately 20 per cent of Lebanon now occupied; and — according to a statement from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), on 29th May, 11 children are being killed or injured every day in Lebanon by the IDF; notes that: — on 18th May, 2026, the IDF boarded a Gaza aid flotilla in international waters, and kidnapped humanitarian activists, including 13 Irish citizens; — those citizens were assaulted and abused by members of the Israeli military and publicly goaded by far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, before being deported from Israel; — at the time, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that the treatment of detained activists was "unacceptable" and "appalling"; — the East 1 settlement construction, East of Jerusalem in Gaza and the West Bank, is currently being pursued by the State of Israel, in breach of international law; — both the European Union and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, have condemned the East 1 plan being carried out by the State of Israel, stating that these actions damage the viability of a two-state solution, and are in breach of international law; and — this represents the ongoing denial by Israel of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, is forcible transfer, and constitutes a war crime; further notes that: — sportswashing is a known method for apartheid States to distract from breaches of human rights and other unethical conduct, including war crimes; — the Irish women's basketball team were not financially supported by the Government to boycott playing Israel in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 qualifier, despite "strong concerns" expressed from Basketball Ireland over the fixture; — in 1999, the then Fianna Fáil Government prevented a Euro 2000 qualifying match between Ireland and Yugoslavia from taking place, because of Serbian atrocities in Kosovo; — the Government acted, despite UEFA turning down a request from them to cancel the game; — at the time, the then Taoiseach said "It is not for a government to force a sporting decision on a body.”
“One of the reasons that is put forward is the potential sanctions and financial implications of this. If we look at the case law from that particular jurisdiction, it seems to me quite clear that UEFA will not be able to impose any such sanctions. You need to grow a pair, as a Government, and do this and stop the game.”
“He said that "it is at this level that strategic decisions should be taken rather than by individual countries' NGBs." If the Minister of State is waiting for UEFA or FIFA to do it, then he is going to be waiting a while, so what we have to do as a country is stand up and start the process. We must stand up in solidarity with the people who are being killed in Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank and now in Lebanon. I will touch on some of those legal obligations because, obviously, we have the Genocide Convention and the ICJ ruling, of which the Government is the custodian. It is the one who has to carry out the responsibilities that we have as a State under those. We also have to ratify the UN's International Convention against Apartheid in Sports. I want to touch on the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
“Israel has killed over 1,000 Palestinian football players and sportspeople. Just last week, two members of the Palestinian women's team were detained. All sports facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed. Article 72.2 of FIFA statutes states: "Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter's approval." The ICJ ruling on occupied territories in 2024 was that the territories are illegal, ergo, it is illegal. There is ample evidence for why Israel should not be playing in these competitions. The Minister of State essentially threw up his hands and the way he put it in his speech was that the decision lies with UEFA and FIFA to decide against it.”
“The fragmentation that is being perpetrated on the Palestinian people, includes the tactic of dividing communities literally and physically on a map, but also within communities by taking children out of homes and detaining them for long enough that their communities are suspicious of them when they go back. These atrocities amount to an organised genocide. They have been practising and preparing for it for decades, and this is their final phase. We are standing complicit if we do not act. The thing that angers all of us the most is the impunity. Again, here is his opportunity to deal with that - to show them that this cannot happen. I will talk about some of the specific ways in which football has been a feature of this genocide because Israel has at least ten football teams playing on illegally occupied Palestinian territory.”
“That comment really irks me because time and again his colleagues stand in this Chamber and tell me that we need to reach international or European level consensus to be effective against Israel. If that consensus does not exist, which the Minister of State has conceded in his speech, then how do we start it? We stand up and we are leaders. That is what we do. We say we are not going to play Israel and then all of a sudden other countries have to answer the same question and we start to see these things happen. It is exactly what happened with Mary Manning refusing to handle a grapefruit in Dunnes Stores decades ago, which we know now has been lauded as a key part in the drive towards dismantling the apartheid South African state.”
“Eleven children a day now die or get injured in Lebanon because of Israeli strikes and 20% of the country is occupied. They are not stopping. They will not stop. The global order is not going to stop them. If you read Francesca Albanese's most recent book, When the World Sleeps , what she will tell you is what we have to do - the only thing that we can do - is sanction them and boycott them. We have to distance ourselves from Israel and say that we do not support this. This is a beautiful opportunity for the Government to do that. The Minister of State said something in his speech about no such international consensus existing in relation to Israel. That was following the comments on why it is not the same as the Russian example.”
“They have worked their whole lives for a particular goal but are surrounded by a country telling them that this game should not go ahead and they have to make that decision. That is so unfair. It is a direct result of the lack of leadership that is being shown by the Government on this specific issue. This genocide has been going on for two and a half years. It is being livestreamed onto all of our phones. Some 75,000 men, women and children are dead in Palestine, although we all know that is a conservative figure because of the formulation of those statistics, which require a various set of data to determine that. We know that these figures are not representative of the true atrocity that Israel is inflicting in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank and in Lebanon.”
“They have not said why but presumably it is because the Minister of State does not support sportswashing, although he denied in that committee that he would even call this sportswashing. He has said he will not go to the match, will not engage with the FAI and will not do anything to influence it to change its decision, yet what he will do is support its position and, potentially, support the removal of this match to another location, which would mean that all of this would fall on the shoulders of the Irish national team. Those men would be asked to make a choice to step onto that pitch or not. From day one, this is the very thing I warned we needed to avoid. That pressure should not be placed on them.”
“This is in stark contrast to the leadership shown by Deputy Joanna Byrne, who has taken on great personal sacrifice for her stance on this issue. She is to be commended. She is representative of a football community here in Ireland which has shown the same resolve and the same leadership in saying, "We will not tolerate this and we do not want this game to go ahead." It must be deafening for the Minister of State to hear the cacophony of support and the growing momentum that I told him two weeks ago would happen for the Stop the Game campaign. It must be deafening for him and his colleagues who have decided, instead of showing leadership, to say, "We will not go to the match because".”
“Quite recently, in committee, I asked the Minister of State about anything he and his colleague the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, had done regarding the broadcasting side of things and there was very little by way of satisfactory answer. The response basically seems to be, "It is an FAI decision and we are not going to go near it." Of course, the Government cites "governance" as the reason that it cannot do this and states that the FAI is a sports governing body and there is no place for politics in that. However, I have seen governance weaponised by Cabinet Ministers in this Government whereby, essentially, when it suits them to take action or engage appropriately with particular bodies, they will choose to do so, and when it does not suit them, they decide to leave their hands off.”
“I thank and commend Sinn Féin on bringing forward this motion, which sets out very clearly the mechanisms available to the Government to assist the FAI in making the right decision and, basically, to stop the game. That is what it does. It gives the Government the clear tools that we know will work should it choose to act and should it choose to show leadership. I will talk first about leadership because what we have not seen from this Government is leadership on this issue. Since February, when we knew this was an issue, when we were drawn against Israel and the FAI came out very quickly and said what its plans were, there has been nothing from the Government. There has been nothing to assure us that it is even looking into this, dealing with it or engaging with the issue at all.”
“Will the Taoiseach allow a free vote on the motion from Sinn Féin this evening and from us in the Social Democrats tomorrow, where we propose that the Government advocate for exclusion of Israel in all international sporting fixtures? Will he allow his TDs to vote freely on our motion tomorrow?”
“Earlier, when the Taoiseach spoke about Stop the Game, I think he implied, basically, that sport is not political. I would have a litany of examples to show him that there are many ways in which sports and politics interact and have traditionally done so. What is political is boycott, and we have a proud tradition of boycotting in this country. It is a way of expressing our solidarity with a people who are being inflicted by a brutal regime with a genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon right now. Multiple of the Taoiseach's Ministers have said they would not attend the game, which I find highly hypocritical when the Taoiseach then says he will not support the FAI in changing its decision to UEFA not to hold the game.”
“We are seeing a disproportionate amount of the cost of disruption borne by legacy media rather than by the streamers and new platforms. That is where it needs to go to. I get the concerns about passing the cost on to the consumer but we are an outlier now. In other European countries, the streaming levy is available to fund independent and creative sectors. They could product Irish media content. That is something I will be pushing hard on on Committee Stage. I have no doubt others in the Opposition will too. Overall, I welcome the Bill and look forward to working on it further on Committee Stage.”
“I have talked a lot with Irish language media providers recently, primarily on the campaign trail in the Galway West by-election, and it was an eye-opener to understand how difficult it had been for producers and professionals working in that space who were looking at dual or two-tier pay systems, essentially, often for twice the work. There is a feeling in some areas that professionals are paid less and asked to do more to meet not only the public service obligations in the Irish language sector, but also the ambition we have as a State to foster and promote our indigenous language. It is a shame that the Minister has chosen not to place the levy entirely under the remit of Coimisiún na Meán. This is exactly what I am saying about disruption.”
“This is a pivotal and fundamental measure for the commercial sector, which carries that public service broadcasting mandate through the commissioning process, and it is crucial that the sector be provided with as much information as possible as far in advance as possible in order that it can do the appropriate planning that it needs to respond to the call for public service broadcasting from our national broadcaster. That is very important. I want to touch on the Irish language scope of this, as many others have.”