I welcome the United States ambassador to the House for his first visit but, I hope, not his last. It is a long overdue visit. We will obviously be liaising with him in regard to the issue of the 50,000 undocumented Irish living in the United States. It is good to have a great friend of Ireland in Dublin, as well as having him with us in the Seanad today.

I, too, support Senator Averil Power's motion, which is part of a proud tradition and follows in the footsteps of Frank Aiken and Brian Lenihan Snr. Ireland understands the situation out there better than others, having put soldiers on the ground in Lebanon in trying to ensure peace in the Middle East. Peace comes dropping slow, however, and in some cases it is not coming at all. Ireland has been an honest broker in that regard and is willing to assist in any way possible to ensure peace in the Holy Land.

I join my colleagues in calling for a debate on Irish Water. It is a fiasco from start to finish. What we were told does not appear to be the truth. The Government stated it was not aware of bonuses yet it is clear it was aware of a bonus culture. The Government told us it did not believe it would cost as much as it did, yet the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government had memos clearly outlining that it would cost millions and billions of euro to put it in place. What we do not have from Irish Water is a plan. There is no plan to produce clean water in every house in County Kerry - none. There is a plan to give bonuses to the people who work in Irish Water, not to the people who provide the water but to those who are managing or mismanaging Irish Water. I would like to see the Minister come to the House to clearly outline the plan to put clean drinking water into every house in Ireland. All we have is a plan to tax every house in Ireland but we need a plan to give people clean water.

I support all that has been said in regard to the motion. I have no difficulty about a move towards recognising Palestine as a state. This is, in fact, policy which is accepted even by Israel itself, I believe, in terms of a two-state solution. I echo the remarks of my colleague, Senator Paul Bradford, that whenever the issue of the Middle East comes up in the House, it is one-sided, although this may not be very popular to say. We rarely hear the Israeli side of things, although it is a country whose people believe they, too, are victims. I often reflect on what might have happened last summer, in the face of the horrendous savagery that went on and the innocent people who were killed, if Israel did not have a protective shield over its own country as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Israel. I certainly would not like to be living in Israel and have to be subjected to this also. It is just a small point to be made that, whenever we talk about Israeli rights, there are two sides to this story. I would be one of the harshest critics of Israeli policy towards Palestine. They are a superior power but they also see themselves as a nation under threat from those elements in Palestine who are committed to not only a political solution - the two-state solution - but also to extinguishing Israel as a state. Senator Paul Bradford's intervention is timely and appropriate and is one I would support in the context of any debate that takes place in this House about the complexities of the Middle East conflict. There are two sides to this story also.

I join other Members in welcoming the US and Palestinian ambassadors to the House.

The Moroccan ambassador is here also.