Speaking to the Irish Independent, Archbishop Eamon Martin encouraged “everyone who has influence to work very diligently to try to restore and heal this issue”.
Israel’s foreign ministry announced on December 15 that it had ordered the closure of its embassy because of what it called “extreme anti-Israel policy” by the Irish Government.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said: “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.” He claimed Ireland’s actions and antisemitic rhetoric were rooted in “the de-legitimisation and demonisation of the Jewish state”.
However, Archbishop Martin said: “I do not feel that Irish people are antisemitic.”
Describing the criticism as “emotional language”, he added, “we quite simply abhor the death and destruction that is going on at the moment”.
“We know that this particular episode began with a horrific terror incident of October 7, 2023 attacks and the taking of hostages. These are human beings with families and friends, and they are held in goodness-knows what kind of conditions.”
However, he said the Irish Government had taken a strong stance which he believes is supported by the large majority of people here, “that we must speak out when we see a relentless bombardment and the destruction of a particular population”.
“What has been happening in Gaza is a merciless use of weapons in the destruction of infrastructure including health, homes, schools – the things that people need to live. We look on almost powerless at the way innocent children, women and civilians appear to be living in complete terror,” he said.
Referring to the “complete breakdown of law and order in Gaza” he warned that humanitarian aid is not getting to people who need it, according to Trócaire, the Catholic bishops’ development agency.
“I feel the Irish Government has been correct in using every vehicle of international pressure and diplomacy to try to get a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, and full access for essential humanitarian aid. Our message to Israel must remain consistent – their behaviour is something that we cannot in any way support,” Dr Martin said.
He regrets the closure of the embassy because of the importance of diplomacy and dialogue in solving issues of conflict. “In our own conflict on this island, we have seen how important dialogue was in order to build reconciliation and any hope for peace,” he said.
Calling on all sides to redouble their efforts for a ceasefire and to allow humanitarian aid in and the rebuilding of the Gaza communities, he said: “I really do feel that we shouldn’t give up hope, and we should be relentlessly seeking a solution.”
Speaking about Christmas and next year’s jubilee of hope in the Catholic Church, which Pope Francis formally opens on Christmas Eve in Rome, Dr Martin said: “I think people are in need of an injection of hope.
“We are living in a world of a huge amount of violence, war and aggression. We are living in a world of the displacement of people, with families on the borderline of survival from Gaza to Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, all of these places where we see the worst of humanity.
“The message of hope encourages us to remind ourselves that we are basically good people, that we have a lot of opportunities to bring joy, build peace, show harmony and love.
“So many people at Christmas time draw on the best of themselves. They reach out to neighbours. There is a huge outpouring of love, generosity and charity towards the poor, for example, through the collections for St Vincent de Paul Society, Crosscare and so many local initiatives.”
However, he believes one of our greatest challenges is the “scourge of addictions”. The incoming administration’s programme for government needs to tackle this “cancer in Irish society” which is “destroying so many families and workplaces, and is an immense cost to our health services, and has a huge impact in terms of mental health,” Dr Martin said.
Addiction, he warned, was adding to the complications of family life and often translated into aggression such as “some of the awful violence that we are seeing in our communities at the moment – violence against women and violence against children”.
The church leader also spoke about assisted dying. He expressed disappointment at the “way that the Dáil seemed to be rushing to adopt what [the bishops] believe was a flawed report of the Oireachtas Committee [on Assisted Dying] just before it broke up for the election”.
“It gave me some consolation to see that none of the parties appeared to be making the introduction of assisted dying in Ireland a manifesto issue. Therefore, I feel that none of the parties actually have a mandate now to proceed on this issue,” he said.
He expressed concern over “the slippery slope” and how the issue “invariably gets expanded and increased as time goes on” as seen by the experience of other countries. “It is something we should reflect long and hard about,” he said.
Last October, the Irish bishops published a pastoral letter on immigration titled, “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes?” based on the Gospel “imperative towards welcoming the stranger”.
“You will notice always that extreme voices will often equate immigrants, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, and label everybody who is a stranger as somebody who is not welcome. That is something we would reject as church people,” he said.
“We still have a huge number of Irish people going to other countries and finding new opportunities for work. We would be rightly appalled if they were to be treated any way that is less than welcoming.
“I think the fact that some of the more extreme people were not elected to seats in the Dáil is certainly noteworthy. However, there is still a large number of people who voted for people with extreme views, and those voices are still there in our communities.”
Dr Martin appealed for more dialogue and conversations about the building of capacity.
The bishops, he stressed, “recognise that communities are rightly concerned whenever they feel under huge pressure for basic essential facilities like access to health, doctors, medical services, school places and even basic infrastructure like housing and a suitable place to live”.
“I think people would be calling on the new government to enact a lot of the promises that have been made in regard to additional housing, proper health services on the ground in communities, and resourcing communities to be welcoming.
“Even though the government appears to be well resourced in terms of money, it is also about having the capacity to build the necessary number of houses in terms of engineers, labourers, plasterers and skilled workers.
“Sadly, we are exporting a lot of our young people who have these skills, and we are heavily reliant on our migrant communities to provide these essential skills, not just in construction and development, but also in our medical services and in our hospitality services.”