Donald Trump's Board of Peace was billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza. However, its proposed charter does not even mention Gaza. Instead it gives a broad mandate to resolve global conflicts. Given the list of people who have signalled they will join it is clear the outfit should be renamed the board of autocrats and war criminals. Included in their number are Netanyahu, Putin and Lukashenko. To highlight the absurdity of this travesty, Netanyahu is unable to attend a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace today because as an indicted war criminal he fears being arrested if he turns up in Davos.

As more and more concerning details emerge about Trump's Board of Peace one thing is clear, which is that this has little to do with peace in Gaza and everything to do with destroying the UN and making the world less secure and safe. For that reason a number of European countries have already said they will not be signing up. Among their number are Sweden, Norway, France, Slovenia and now the UK but incredibly the Tánaiste's Government is still apparently mulling over whether or not it should sign up. This begs the question of whether there is any outrage perpetrated by Trump that the Government is willing to take a strong and principled stand on.

The Tánaiste's Government's failure to rule out joining Trump's gang of war criminals is just the latest example of failing to live up to its words. On Sunday the Taoiseach strongly hinted the occupied territories Bill was dead in the water. He defended the inexcusable delay in enacting this supposedly priority legislation. He effectively ruled out services being included in the Bill if it moves forward and he stressed the Government was pivoting more to the peace process approach in Gaza citing, incredibly, the creation of Trump's Board of Peace. The Taoiseach also highlighted our continued support for the UN and UNRWA, which I strongly agree with. However, this week the Israeli Government razed an UNRWA facility to the ground in the occupied territories. This was an utterly outrageous act. Israel is still murdering Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with complete impunity. Donald Trump is trying to herald in a new era of chaos, division and adversity. We need to stand firm against Trump as he seeks to legitimise war criminals. Will the Tánaiste categorically rule out any involvement in Trump's so-called Board of Peace? Does this Government have any intention of enacting the occupied territories Bill?

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan very much for raising the matter. Just to remind all of us, including myself, the original idea in relation to a Board of Peace – I will get to what I think are the very serious issues with it – arose from the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict which on 17 November received support from the United Nations. On 17 November the United Nations voted to adopt a resolution endorsing the comprehensive plan and it was envisaged that as the next stage of that plan there would be the formation of some form of board to assist in advancing it. Of course Ireland and many other countries around Europe and the world were eager to play a constructive role. A country like Ireland can of course bring to that table significant experience in conflict resolution, decommissioning, respect for international law and our long-standing commitment to a two-state solution. That is the context.

Let me also be very clear what we are seeing today at this signing ceremony could not be further removed from that original conversation and the Deputy’s comments are right about the lack of reference to Gaza and the very serious red flags. Anything Putin is considering joining with the word “peace” in it does not sit well. The cost of $1 billion to join does not sit well and also anything that in any way seeks to undermine, replace or usurp the United Nations is not something the Government would support and I do not think it is something Dáil Éireann or the people of Ireland would support either. There are very significant governance issues with it as well, including that, as envisaged, the charter suggests the President of the United States – as in the current incumbent – would be the chair and that person would also have the ability to designate his successor and appoint, remove and renew members of the executive, so you could pay the $1 billion and be kicked off the thing. There is a whole range of very serious issues here. What the Taoiseach is doing on behalf of the Government by not turning up at the signing ceremony today is entirely responsible. I was at a meeting of EPP leaders yesterday and no European leader has turned up at the signing ceremony bar President Trump’s ally, if you like, Prime Minister Orbán of Hungary. It is our expectation that at the European Council dinner this evening of European heads of state and heads of government that this issue will further be considered.

I am not suggesting Deputy O’Callaghan is but I would not like to see our position in any way misrepresented. We have not joined the board, we did not turn up at the signing ceremony but we are obviously going to discuss it with our EU colleagues because Europe needs to stand united in supporting the primacy of the United Nations and making sure we get the focus back here to what was meant to be phase 2 of the peace plan for Gaza. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, who is here with us, was in the Middle East last week, I believe. She was at the Rafah crossing seeing for herself the impact of Irish humanitarian aid - of funding from the people of this country - but also seeing what more can and must be done. The Taoiseach was right to make the point Ireland is very eager to see how we can play a practical role in trying to help alleviate the most horrific humanitarian situation.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Tánaiste. The stated position, therefore, of the Government on Trump's so-called Board of Peace is that it is considering its response. That has been the stated position up to now. Will the Tánaiste rule out, unequivocally and categorically, that Ireland will not be involved in any shape or form with this travesty Trump is putting forward? Will he do that and do that now? That is what I am asking him to do. Let us not have any ambiguity about it. The Tánaiste should say on behalf of the Irish Government we will have no involvement whatsoever in this travesty and rule it out categorically.

On the occupied territories Bill, the Tánaiste promised this Dáil a number of months ago the Bill would be brought to the House by the end of November last year but it still has not happened. When is it going to happen and is it going to include goods and services?

Unlike some governments around the world I do not stand up and single-handedly make decisions and announce them without engagement with colleagues. My personal view and the view of Government colleagues is that we cannot see any scenario in which Ireland can participate in the so-called Board of Peace as currently constructed. Of course, it would be a very different situation were we back to where the UN was on 17 November in terms of countries genuinely coming together in a board to genuinely try to help move phase 2 of a resolution to the horrific conflict and indeed genocide we have seen in Gaza. Process does matter. I do not want to be argumentative on this but we heard calls in this House that the Government should introduce retaliatory tariffs and hit the Trump administration.

Thank God we did not take that advice. We worked through the process with our European colleagues and we managed to get to a situation where additional tariffs were not imposed and managed to calm down the economic situation, so process matters. Allowing the Government the opportunity to sit down with our European colleagues to discuss and tease through a European response to global issues is sometimes a prudent thing to do.