MINISTER OF STATE Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said she joined the Oireachtas Friends of Israel group and the Palestinian friendship group because she is in favour of a two-state solution.
The newly appointed Junior Minister for European Affairs clarified the point after she said she was “struck” by reports on social media, which stated that she had only joined the Israeli friendship group.
While she said she was reluctant to get involved in addressing social media reports, saying it was concerning that oftentimes when something is posted online “it becomes true”, when that is not the case.
Earlier this month, People Before Profit TD Mick Barry raised the issue in the Dáil and also tweeted: “Should Deputy Carroll MacNeill of the Oireachtas Friends of Israel Group be the new European Affairs Minister? Ireland has requested an urgent review of the EU-Israel Trade Agreement – is she in a position to vigorously pursue that review?”
The minister of state told The Journal that she is no longer a member of either, stating that you “automatically fall out” of the groups when you become a minister of state.
“So I’m just not involved and haven’t been for a very, very long time,” she said.
The minister said that when she became a TD she joined a couple of different friendship groups in the Oireachtas, such as the Israeli friendship group, the Palestinian friendship and the French group.
“But I joined both the Palestinian and the Israeli friendship group at the same time and the reason I did was because I was interested in the two-state solution.
“And to me, a bit like talking to every party in Northern Ireland, it seems logical to me to join both groups,” she said.
The minister said there have been reports that she soley joined the Israeli friendship group, but said that is not the case.
The Ceann Comhairle asked Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown TD to be the organiser or the convener of the Israeli group, said Carroll MacNeill stating that when the Ceann Comhairle asks her to do something, she does it.
“That’s basically what it is. So I joined both groups, I participated in both groups. I’m in the photograph of the Friends of Palestine group. Sinn Féin asked me to hold a poster. I decided not to do that. But I’m there in the picture with the Friends of Palestine group,” she said.
“But it’s only portrayed as me being involved in one,” she said. The minister said she still gets asked about it from people, stating that she recently got a text message from someone asking her about it.
When she was the organiser of the Oireachtas Friends of Israel friendship group, it was a “very different government, it wasn’t a Netanyahu government”, the minister added.
“It was a much more moderate, centrist government,” she said.
“You know, it will be moderates on both sides, on the Palestinian side and moderates on the Israeli side, who reach a two-state political solution. I am a moderate and I’m a big fan of moderates.
“I do not have any respect for Netanyahu. I do not have any respect for Hamas. I am not interested in extremes. But I am interested in moderates and I am interested in taking the moderate position myself. And me joining both groups seemed to be by far the most moderate logical thing to do,” she said.
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