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The pair met in London today. Alamy

Tánaiste meets UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron in London

The pair discussed Northern Ireland and the situation in Israel and Gaza.

LAST UPDATE | 13 Dec 2023

TÁNAISTE AND FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has travelled to London today and has met with the new UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron.

The former UK prime minister was appointed foreign secretary last month. 

Posting onto X, formerly Twitter, Martin said it was a “warm meeting” between the two counterparts, where Northern Ireland, Ukraine and Gaza were discussed.

He added that the meeting was “underlining the strength of relations between our countries” and that he “reiterated Ireland’s call for immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.

Last night, the United Kingdom voted in favour of such a move during a vote that took place inside the UN General Assembly.

This was be the first meeting between the two men in their roles as foreign ministers. 

The ministers also discussed the operation of the Windsor Framework. 

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Tánaiste said it is vital that the two governments strengthen their relationship.

“The partnership between us is the bedrock for ensuring continued peace and prosperity across these islands. I look forward therefore to developing a close and open working relationship with Foreign Secretary Cameron.

“Thirty years ago this week, Albert Reynolds and John Major, together achieved the Downing Street Declaration. This joint work enabled the ceasefires and set the scene for the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement. The Declaration heralded intensified cooperation between the two Governments, and a shared analysis that led, ultimately, to peace,” said Martin.

“My visit is also an important opportunity to focus on wider foreign policy concerns, including the crisis in the Middle East which both the Foreign Secretary and I have visited recently.

“My view remains clear – the international community should insist on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said. 

The UK abstained in a vote on a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Out of the 15 members on the council, 13 voted in favour of the resolution. The US was the only country to block it, and the UK abstained.

“Civilians must be protected, hostages must be released and humanitarian access at scale should be provided as a matter of urgency. It will also be important that the EU and the UK maintain our close cooperation in delivering support for Ukraine and deterring Russian aggression,” said the Tánaiste. 

With reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill

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38 Comments
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    Mute David
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:12 PM

    The Taoiseach NOW thinks it’s time for sanctions as the USA is rethinking it’s murderous support of Israel.
    Why can’t you lead instead of being led !

    114
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    Mute Sean
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:26 PM

    @David: Our hands are tied because our membership of the EU means we cannot unilaterally sanction these terrorist states. If we want to be serious about being a republic then we need to renegotiate our position within the(increasingly militaristic and corporate captured) EU. The Irish people didn’t vote for joining an entity that supports(or turns a closed eye to) genocide and now we need a conversation on whether our membership should involve bespoke measures that would allow us act according to our republican values IMO

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    Mute Podge
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:27 PM

    @Sean: Supports Genocide lol – what a muppet.

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    Mute Podge
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:29 PM

    @Sean: So much killing across the world Sean but see nothing from you about most of it – you are very selective – so by your own logic you also supoort genocide… or at the very least are happy to turn a blind eye to it when it suits your narrative huh!

    22
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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:36 PM

    @Podge: Yes, Israel has been conducting genocide on the Palestinian people.

    Perhaps you should look up the definitions of genocide.

    37
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    Mute Harry Cock
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    Dec 13th 2023, 5:21 PM

    @ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: you’re getting mixed up, Hamas commited genocide and rape on innocent civilians on Oct 7 and continue to do so

    17
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    Mute David
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    Dec 13th 2023, 9:06 PM

    @Sean: There was a bill that passed through our courts, twice. That bill says we can “boycott” all products from Israel and any other colonized state. What are the EU gonna do, if someone stood up and said we are applying our own sanctions.

    3
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    Mute David
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    Dec 13th 2023, 9:08 PM

    @Sean: and yes there does need to be a conversation, but I don’t see anyone with a spine in a senior position that would step forward and be counted.

    3
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    Mute You're Not Serious
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:04 PM

    Why do we have to refer to X as formerly twitter? It is X

    55
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    Mute Tezmond McVicar
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:05 PM

    @You’re Not Serious: Because “X” can be anything.

    20
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    Mute Sean
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:18 PM

    @Tezmond McVicar: I’d say you had a nightmare learning the alphabet

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    Mute donal O'brien
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:44 PM

    @Sean: just call it twitter coz that’s what it is.

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    Mute Sean
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:05 PM

    @donal O’brien: fine by me Donal. Burst on

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    Mute pBDSiMMi
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:19 PM

    @Tezmond McVicar: that’s true. I put in x videos and something came up I didn’t expect or did I ………. Hmmmmm

    12
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    Mute Sean
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:27 PM

    @pBDSiMMi: Hahahaha. Just googled it. Give up that aul divilment!

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    Mute pBDSiMMi
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:38 PM

    @Sean: I’ve no idea what you are talking about …….

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    Mute Michael McShane
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    Dec 13th 2023, 5:01 PM

    @Tezmond McVicar: Y ??????

    3
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    Mute Mike 100
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    Dec 13th 2023, 7:08 PM

    @Tezmond McVicar: I heard tell that X marks the spot.

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    Mute David
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    Dec 13th 2023, 9:11 PM

    @Tezmond McVicar: what I am more amazed with is that twitter users were never referred to as “twits”.

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    Mute Kevin O Brien
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:10 PM

    Smiling While Gaza burns ,and FFG harbouring the Israeli Propaganda ambassador in her mansion in Dublin as voted for in the Dail

    44
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    Mute Podge
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:31 PM

    @Kevin O Brien: Here you are messing around on the internet while Gaza burns…

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    Mute Harry Cock
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    Dec 13th 2023, 5:42 PM

    @Kevin O Brien: go forth to the front line with phone in hand

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    Mute Kevin O Brien
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    Dec 13th 2023, 8:16 PM

    @Podge: i have Zero power unlike the people in Question

    1
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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:37 PM

    The Muslims only came into the area in 636.

    During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The kingdom gradually became a vassal of Rome, which annexed the area in 63 BCE. Roman Judea was troubled by large-scale Jewish revolts, which Rome answered with by destroying Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple.
    In the 4th century, as the Roman Empire christened, Palestine became a center of Christianity, attracting pilgrims, monks and scholars. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 636–641, several Muslim ruling dynasties succeeded each other as they wrestled control of Palestine: the Rashiduns; the Umayyads, who built the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

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    Mute Peter McCormack
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:10 PM

    @thomas molloy: So…

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:41 PM

    @thomas molloy: Ah, here you are back – with your pseudo history this time – to try to justify the existence of the modern state of Israel, and its appalling atrocities on the Palestinian people.

    The Palestinian people are semites.
    They have been in that region since time immemorial.
    They changed their religion, some to Christianity, most later to Islam.
    (Just as we changed our religion to Chritianity.)

    No one who claims descendancy from those who left these shores long ago has any right to return.
    Any right to return and attack our government, set up their own state on our homeland, drive us off our homeland into enclaves.

    No more than do the Israeli colonial invader of Palestine.

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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Dec 13th 2023, 6:55 PM

    @thomas molloy: Heavy taxes on agricultural land forced many Jews to migrate from rural areas to towns. Social and economic discrimination caused significant Jewish emigration from Palestine, and Muslim civil wars in the 8th and 9th centuries pushed many Jews out of the country. All killing should stop to help the populations live together.

    4
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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Dec 13th 2023, 7:27 PM

    @thomas molloy: Jews have had a continuous presence in the land of Israel.
    While the Romans expelled the majority of Jews in 70 CE, the Jewish people have always been present in the land of Israel. A portion of the Jewish population remained in Israel throughout the years of Jewish exile while the rest settled around the world and became the Jewish diaspora. In particular, Jewish communities existed throughout much of this period in what is known as the Four Holy Cities: Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed (Tzfat), and Tiberias. Jerusalem is the most sacred, known for the Western Wall. Hebron is associated with the Cave of the Patriarchs, the traditional burial site of several important Biblical figures. Safed became the center of Jewish mysticism in the sixteenth century.

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Dec 13th 2023, 7:46 PM

    @thomas molloy: Bottom line …The State of Israel only exists because the British drew a line in the sand.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 13th 2023, 10:52 PM

    @thomas molloy: Yes, Jews have had a continuous existence in the land we call Palestine.

    As have all other Palestinians.

    That does not give Jews from other lands any right to invade Palestine, engage in terrorism, drive the Palestinian people off their land, and establish a state in the homeland of the Palestinian people, depriving those people of their lands, their homes, and their future.

    Israel is the fruit of the poisoned tree.

    It has no right to exist.

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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Dec 14th 2023, 10:49 AM

    @Donal Desmond: Yes, while also creating a far larger Muslim Palestine called Jordan. The India Pakistan partition is another example.

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    Mute Bass Boss
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    Dec 13th 2023, 3:43 PM

    people being butchered for days n u have these 2 fools chekin hands and smiling ..

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    Mute Gerard Fogarty
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    Dec 13th 2023, 5:46 PM

    Didn’t the UK abstain from the vote?

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    Mute David Clarke
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    Dec 13th 2023, 7:45 PM

    A uselss irish tory meets a disgraced english tory

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    Mute Pato
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    Dec 13th 2023, 4:11 PM

    You never know who you’d meet in London!

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    Mute patrick kelly
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    Dec 13th 2023, 9:06 PM

    2 complete vvankers!

    12
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    Mute Seanfhear míshásta
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    Dec 13th 2023, 6:11 PM

    Voted in favour in General Assembly but abstained in Security Council ???

    3
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    Mute Mike Brady
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    Dec 13th 2023, 8:14 PM

    @Seanfhear míshásta: Look up the Sunak families conflict of interest with company Infosys and BP gas exploration in Gaza, all you need to know…

    9
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