Ireland may take action against violent settlers in West Bank as EU leaders meet

It’s the last week of politics before Christmas and it has all the likelihood of being a grim week. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar travels to the final EU summit of the year in Brussels this week arguing, along with three other EU states, for a “lasting humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza”.

He is one of four signatories to a letter – Spain, Belgium and Malta are the others – urging the European Union to act.

However, the prospects of a ceasefire, even a temporary one – something like what the Germans called Weihnachtsfrieden during the first World War – are remote indeed.

“Our credibility is at stake,” the letter warns but there are few signs the rest of the Union is minded to act notwithstanding the horror unfolding in Gaza.

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More than 18,000 Gazans, almost a third of them children, have now been killed in two months of carnage, in a retaliatory war for the deadly Hamas attack of October 7th that killed 1,200 Israeli people.

UN agencies have run out of words to describe the impossible situation they face. Almost 85 per cent of Gazans have been displaced in a tiny sliver of land. People are now in danger of dying from starvation and disease because of a lack of sanitation.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin was in Brussels on Monday for a meeting of EU foreign ministers. He told reporters on the margins that Ireland will push for the EU to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on violent settlers who have already driven hundreds of Palestinians from their homes on the West Bank. He said Ireland will act alone if necessary.

Will any of these initiatives make any difference? Sadly, not. European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness told RTÉ yesterday that the letter was significant but was “signed by a small number of member states”.

The Tánaiste said Ireland is willing to unilaterally impose travel bans on violent Israeli settlers who are “terrorising” Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“We can and we’re certainly very open to that. Normally we want to work with Europe because it has more impact in terms of trade sanctions for example or other types of sanctions,” Mr Martin said.

“But certainly in terms of travel bans we could, we’re very open to that. But we want to push that the EU should do it as an entity.”

War in Ukraine

The other deadly and damaging war, that between Russia and Ukraine, continues to grind on..

The number of refugees coming into Ireland remains high but the Government will send out a signal this morning that the State has reached the limit it can take.

In a radical change of policy discussed yesterday at a Cabinet subcommittee, it was agreed to accept Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman’s proposals that newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees will be offered State-provided accommodation for only 90 days.

In addition the welfare rates they receive will be cut from €220 to €38.

The change reflects the pressures facing the Government, particularly O’Gorman, to accommodate refugees and asylum seekers. More than 100,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland since the war broke out in February last year, with over 25,000 people arriving from elsewhere seeking international protection.

The proposals are expected to be agreed at a full Cabinet meeting this morning.

A year ago it would have been imaginable for an Irish Minister to make such a proposal, especially a Green Party Minister.

It is clearly intended as a deterrent to discourage Ukrainian refugees to opt for Ireland. Evidence shows that a third of those arriving do so from other safe countries in the EU. Mr Varadkar said yesterday that some come because Ireland is seen as offering more generous conditions and welfare payments than other EU states.

Aid agencies have opposed the move. Deirdre Garvey of the Irish Red Cross said it was a sledgehammer approach. “It is clear (it is intended) to send a message of deterrence to others thinking of travelling to Ireland,” she said.

And that it is.

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Playbook

The Cabinet meets this morning. Among the other things it will discuss are a law that may give rights to families who have had surrogacy abroad, and a new initiative from the Department of Education on lifelong learning.

DÁIL

2pm: Leaders’ Questions 1

3.05pm: Taoiseach’s Questions

3.50pm: Appropriation Bill 2023. Second Stage. Department of Public Expenditure.

5.47pm: Motion re Instruction Committee for Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023

6.49pm: Private Members’ Business (Sinn Féin): Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) (No. 2) Bill 2023 (Second Stage)

8.51pm: Parliamentary Questions: Oral – Minister for Justice

10.21pm: Topical Issues

11.09pm: Dáil adjourns

SEANAD

11am: Commencement Matters

12pm: Motion regarding the transmission of statistical data to the commission on the number of counterfeiting offences and on the number of people prosecuted and convicted of the counterfeiting offences, as laid down in article 11 of Directive 2014/62/EU

1.15pm: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023. Committee Stage. (Department of Justice)

3.15pm: Finance Bill 2023. Report and Final Stages. (Department of Finance)

5.30pm: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023. Committee and Remaining Stages. (Department of Social Protection)

8.30pm: Seanad adjourns

COMMITTEES

10.30am: Joint Committee on Assisted Dying.

Examination of potential consequences: protecting and enhancing the provision of palliative care.

Representatives from the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants’ Association, Association of Palliative Medicine for Great Britain and Ireland, and Dr Max Watson, Project ECHO, Programme Director of Hospice UK.

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