Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Israel continues to act with impunity in its genocidal war on the people of Gaza. More than 30,000 Palestinians have now been killed. In Rafah, millions of Palestinian refugees now face the same nightmare as those massacred in Gaza city and Khan Younis before the eyes of the world. According to the United Nations, more than half a million people face famine. The decline in the population's nutrition status is at a globally unprecedented rate. Children in Gaza are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever recorded. One in six children under the age of two years in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished. What Israel is doing on a daily basis is barbaric. The latest cold-blooded massacre of civilians gathering flour from aid trucks in Nabulsi Square has seen dozens of civilians killed and hundreds more wounded.

The State responsible for this and countless other massacres enjoys the most preferential diplomatic, economic and trading relationship with the EU of virtually any non-European country. These arrangements are worth billions of euro each year to an Israeli regime that is literally starving children to death and attacking civilians in the most relentless, brutal manner.

The Tánaiste previously failed to support motions calling on Ireland to intervene in the case brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice, ICJ. Does he accept that what is happening in Gaza is genocide? The evidence is crystal clear. The international community has a responsibility to end the barbarity we are witnessing in Gaza. Ireland, of course, has a role to play. We must insist on the adherence to international law. We must also insist on consequences for those who are in gross violation of international law. Israel cannot be treated as a normal state while it engages in such barbarity.

The Taoiseach co-signed a letter calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement. This was the correct, albeit belated, thing to do. The failure of the EU to take any meaningful sanction against Israel has undermined Europe's credibility as a voice for peace and conflict resolution in the world. What else is the Tánaiste going to do to force the EU to take action? What action is he going to take? Sinn Féin's Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestments Bill 2023 was read for a Second Time recently after the Government delayed its passage by nine months. The Bill, brought forward by Deputy John Brady, would simply ensure that Irish taxpayers' moneys cannot be invested in companies that profit from Israel's illegal occupation. Will the Tánaiste now commit to the House to ensuring that it becomes law without delay? Will he recognise the state of Palestine? No more excuses. Israel is attempting to bomb Palestine out of existence. If the world does not take a stand, there will be no Palestine left to recognise. Will the Tánaiste, at long last, simply do what international law requires of us all, and officially acknowledge that the Palestinian people are entitled to their state, their freedom and a future free from Israeli occupation, apartheid and oppression? On behalf of the people of Ireland, will the Government recognise the state of Palestine?

See this speech in context