Cllr Denis Leonard said the flying of the Palestinian flag over Áras an Chontae would show “support of the Irish Government’s act of recognising the state of Palestine.”
The Labour councillor was speaking for his party political colleague, Cllr Johnnie Penrose, at the latest Westmeath County Council meeting on Monday, 16 December.
Cllr Penrose’s motion called for the Council to “fly the Palestinian flag on our building in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are suffering so extensively at the moment.”
The Labour party-proposed motion was supported by Sinn Féin councillors, David Jones and Julie McCourt. Cllr Jones said that children in Palestine were “purposely being targeted by Israel” and that what was happening was “complete genocide.”
No councillors spoke against the motion.
Cllr Leonard acknowledged that a protocol would need to be put in place for a motion could be fully enacted. Westmeath County Council’s Chief Executive, Barry Kehoe, confirmed that the council would draft a protocol to be put before a council Corporate Policy Group (CPG).
“With the CPG’s agreement, I can come back to the Council for a full approval and after that, such motions can be considered in that context,” said Mr Kehoe.
“What the protocol will address is the flying of flags at the county buildings here in Mullingar which is the corporate headquarters of Westmeath County Council.”
“IRELAND IS NOT
ANTI-ISRAEL”
Cllr Leonard spoke just one day after the Israeli Government withdrew its embassy from Ireland. He stated: “I hope that at some stage the Palestinian flag can fly here at the building like it has at other councils around the country at different times.
“I think this is very timely, considering yesterday’s actions and I think it is very important to clarify that anything we say here as a Government or a Council is not a hostile act. The media like to drum up these motions as anti-Israeli. This is just for support of the Irish Government’s act of recognising the state of Palestine.
“It is in conjunction with International Law, Human Rights Law and support for the International Courts and The Hague. It is important to state that Ireland is not anti-Israel.
“A lot of Israeli people don’t support the actions of the IDF or the Israeli Government no more than nearly all the Palestinians don’t support the work of Hamas.
“What we are talking about here is support for the Palestinian people as a nation.”
“STOP THE SLAUGHTER”
Cllr Leonard mentioned that thousands of people had died within this conflict, and called for an immediate ceasefire, a return of Israeli hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“It is often the oppressor who has the power and the oppressor who gets on to other states not to recognise the small state and in this case, it is important that we recognise the existence of the state of Palestine and being able to fly the flag here on the county buildings, under whatever protocol the Council adopts is the way forward,” concluded Cllr Leonard.
Both Cllr Leonard and Cllr Jones spoke of parallels between Irish history and Palestine.
Cllr Jones also called for sanctions against Israel, and welcomed its withdrawing of their embassy in Dublin.
Sinn Féin’s other councillor, Cllr McCourt said flying the Palestinian flag would “increase the pressure for an immediate ceasefire” and “every effort should be made to stop the slaughter and keep awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Palestine.”
