Aisling Moloney

And frankly, Israel is losing the room internationally because this behaviour by their security minister was appalling.

And it's resulted in retaliation already.

France has actually banned him from travelling to France.

I'm still of the view that...

I was sceptical about it because I thought it would be ineffective and it would expose us to risks that we didn't need to take.

And it wouldn't do anything for the Palestinian cause.

Have you changed your mind?

Well, I now feel there's a stronger case for it because...

What happened during the week is just an example.

And I think... And also, of course, Spain has now done something similar and Netherlands as well.

So I think it's more effective if we could have a European response that would put genuine pressure for a change in the political landscape in the Middle East, which would lead to some kind of future prospect of a Palestinian state or a settlement to the Palestinian issue.

And I think... I was afraid...

a couple of years ago or a year ago or more, when I addressed this issue publicly, I was afraid that we would be speaking in the wilderness and we'd just be ignored.

Whereas now I think a momentum has built up and I think there is real prospect now that the European Union can take at least some collective measures in response to what's happening.

Because even though these events are going to be in the scale of things compared with the bombing of Gaza and so on,

fairly trivial, but nonetheless, they have drawn public attention in a very real way, internationally, and there's been international outcry, including in Israel, including by people who would normally be very supportive of Israel, condemning this behaviour.

So I do think... I think there's now a stronger case for the Archbishop.

My understanding is that the actual imports from the Occupied Territories are very small indeed, but...

I think, look, it'll be up to the government and the Oireachtas to craft this bill in a way that will make that statement about our abhorrence of what's happened, what's happening in the occupied territories and a breach of international law, but at the same time won't expose us to undue risk of retaliation from the United States.

Or indeed won't put us in breach of European Union law.