Ireland's policy on Palestine is a litmus test for international diplomacy

Last week, just before Christmas, Irish television viewers soaked up a beautiful rendition of Gaza on Christmas Eve by the Daughters of Jerusalem, a choir founded by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. The rendition was broadcast live from the ornate Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin and the performers, mostly young Palestinian women, were warmly received.

Irish singer Imelda May performed just before the choir. Wearing a tatreez dress that she commissioned from a London designer two years ago in solidarity with the people of Gaza, May told the programme: “I thought I’d wear it a couple of times and it would all be over, but here we are.”

I mention this prominent performance because it shows the spirit that has been stirred in Ireland since the conflict in Gaza ignited. The bitter events shown on television screens only serves to intensify this solidarity with every week that passes.

In May last year, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin declared that people in Gaza were living in 'hell on earth'. EPA

Ireland’s presidential election in October was something of a comment on the war. The candidate with an overtly pro-Palestinian campaigning record stretching back decades stormed to victory in a vote powered by identity politics. Although she is a ceremonial president whose powers match that of the monarch in the UK, Catherine Connolly joined government leaders who are also strident pro-Palestine advocates.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin, for example, arrived at December’s final EU summit of the year determined to highlight the Palestinian issue. A meeting dedicated to the thorny issue of sequestering frozen funds for the Ukraine war at least heard some of the latest developments regarding the Gaza ceasefire and aid blockages, topics that otherwise would have been squeezed out.

Ireland has been an important force at the European level for its even-handed policies regarding the humanitarian and political fallout from more than two years of war in Gaza. In May of last year, Mr Martin was declaring the Palestinian enclave “hell on earth” not long after his government announced its intention to formally join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Alongside Spain and other allies, Ireland has sought to ensure the EU has absorbed ICJ rulings. It has been at the heart of the discussions around the EU’s treaty relationship with Israel and of curbing the privileges these bring to the trading relationship. Dublin welcomed the European Commission’s proposal in September to suspend parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. That step has not been taken because it requires at least 15 member states representing 65 per cent of the EU population.

Here lies the rub. Ireland has been, in its own terms, a very strong advocate for the Palestinian cause. It has been more willing than most to risk a reach of its relationship with Israel in pursuit of its diplomacy. But less high-profile have been the instances in which Ireland has curtailed acts of solidarity. A proposed tour of the country by Palestinians who play Gaelic football in the West Bank was scrapped in July because of the failure of the Irish to issue visas.

Another tour associated with Edward Said National Conservatory of Music fell apart in similar circumstances.