Frustration as Palestine motion not heard once again in Kilkenny

There was a palpable sense of frustration present in the County Hall chamber on Monday when a notice of motion from Cllr Maria Dollard was adjourned for a second consecutive month.

Cllr Dollard’s motion sought for the local authority to call upon the government ‘to actively pursue, with like-minded EU member States, a policy to recognise a State of Palestine, and in that context to provide for a more meaningful discourse to happen, after the Gaza war has ended, towards a two-state solution’.

The motion was listed first on the agenda for discussion this month but two motions on the topic of refugees and asylum seekers were taken first and discussed at length, meaning that Cllr Dollard’s motion, along with three others, were adjourned on the day.

In a statement released after the meeting, the South-East branch of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign said that ‘it is frustrating that Kilkenny continues to remain as one of the only councils in the country to not have a motion on Palestine heard’.