I wish Miriam Lord all the best in her retirement. She reaffirms that women are the wittiest and the best satirists. Fair play.

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the role of the Government and the FAI in the debacle that happened in relation to the Ireland versus Israel game, which continues on. The players are still not certain but it has been reported that they will play in the second part of that fixture. The players had to hold an emergency team meeting and vote the day before a match that had been discussed here and outside in society for months. Does the Taoiseach agree that the FAI's handling of this was shambolic, arrogant and incompetent and that the CEO and the board should resign for their handling of it? The FAI got State funding of €75 million between 2019 and 2024.

Yesterday, the FAI president was still not able to state what the financial penalties would have been. He said they were still undetermined, so the whole thing was over undetermined financial penalties. The FAI has ignored its own grassroots and doubled down on its bad decision by shifting the game, knowing that the local fans did not want it. It claimed that each player had been consulted but forgot that goalkeepers are also players as well. It all led to an eleventh-hour meeting and the exclusion of one of the players who had stated that he did not want to play. The FAI then deceptively reported the vote as being a "significant majority" when, in fact, it was 14 to nine, if you count the player who did not have a vote, the heroic and courageous Gavin Bazunu.

His welfare was not protected by the FAI either. He travelled home alone and so on. I salute him.

What pressure did agents put on young players? It was reported that the Unique Sports Group told players they would never be signed up by American-owned English clubs if they did not play in these matches. The team was sent into a cauldron of racial abuse, with monkey chants for one of the players, as well as IDF chants. A video was circulated showing Yoseph Haddad, who apparently was brought into Leinster House by the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, saying that Israel may lose the football but the IDF always wins.

My question to the Taoiseach is about the Government's role. He made a speech at the UN in which he said: "the situation in Gaza remains an affront to all that is decent" and "Let it not be said that we did not act." Two days later, he facilitated a sportswash in the game against Israel. All through this, he, the Minister and the Minister of State with responsibility for sport have encouraged this game to go ahead. They could have supported the FAI at all times. As Fintan O'Toole said, the Taoiseach had an open goal but he kicked the ball into row Z by not backing a cancellation of the match. Will he join me in calling on the players not to play the second leg of the fixture?

First, the level of suffering inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza and, indeed, in the West Bank is horrific. It is an affront to human decency. In my view, the Government has been particularly strong in comparison with many other governments across the world in terms of the diplomatic, political and humanitarian response to this issue. I have noticed since the outset of the war that it has moved from one issue to another but the debate in Ireland seems to always focus on the Government not doing enough. We are almost dividing among ourselves on Ireland's stance and how strong it is vis-à-vis Palestine.

I was at the United Nations last week. There is no other place in the world, except in here, where people think the Government has not been strong enough.

Out there as well.

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

What about in Palestine?

I did not interrupt.

The Taoiseach should ask the Irish people what they think.

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 than a football match, frankly, to try to change the Israeli direction and strategy. Israel's actions now through settlements in the West Bank threaten the two-state solution in a very serious way. We have availed of every opportunity within the EU and the international community to call for Israel to be held accountable. We have supported the International Criminal Court consistently. We have backed that up with very strong funding. During UN high-level week, I attended quite a number of sessions, including with the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution and an event hosted by Emmanuel Macron, Mark Carney, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the Saudi Arabian foreign minister to mark a year since the New York declaration of the comprehensive peace plan. We have repeatedly called for the European Commission to act. Our long-standing position is that the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be suspended or, at a minimum, that the trade elements be suspended. We will continue to work to maintain that particular focus.

We have provided very substantial funding to UNRWA and to Palestine more generally. We intervened, with Spain, in the South African International Court of Justice case against Israel under the Genocide Convention. We have made a submission to the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. We have co-sponsored resolutions at the UN General Assembly to implement the court's advisory opinion. We recognised Palestine as a sovereign independent state long before other states did so at the time of the New York declaration.

Sorry, I did not realise my time was up. In terms of football, I genuinely believe it was a decision to be made by the football community. We have supported the FAI to the tune of, I think, about €192 million over many years since the last serious debacle it had in respect of governance and so on. I appeal to people not to focus on the players. Some of the campaigns the players have been subjected to have been appalling and unnecessary.

That is down to you.

I hope I get a little bit of extra time. We all agree the players should not have been in that position. That is a unanimous view. The Government and the FAI put them in that position. I want to think of another player today, Natalie Abudayyeh, a Palestinian footballer who is in an Israeli jail. She played here in Ireland in 2024. Any Palestinians I have spoken to really would have appreciated Ireland pulling out of the game. One of them spoke about rats eating the bodies of people in Gaza right now. The people in Gaza have lost the will to live. That is the reality of a live genocide. I call on the players to send a message worldwide. It is fair enough to wear black armbands and whatever, but pulling out of that game would prevent sportswashing, and image matters to Israel. Since the Taoiseach goes on about how great everyone internationally thinks he is, why did the Irish delegation sit fixed and not walk out when a wanted war criminal with a warrant out for his arrest stood up and gave a speech courtesy of the UN? Why did the Irish delegation take that decision when the Taoiseach was standing up telling the whole world to act? If Russia were playing, the Taoiseach would disagree. He should disagree with Israel playing, and he should come out and call for them not to play. He should support the FAI and the team if they are willing to pull out on Sunday.

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.

Yes.

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.

There is a warrant for his arrest.

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

He is a war criminal.

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 Coppinger said it matters to Israel. It does not matter to Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu could not give a toss whether Ireland plays a soccer match or not, so let us be a bit real.

Why did they send Yoseph Haddad there then?

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.

Please conclude, Taoiseach.

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.

Please conclude, Taoiseach.

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.