Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Caithfidh mé a rá gur drochscéal ar fad atá le feiscint i nGaza. Tá sé dochreidte an méid atá á fhulaingt acu agus caithfidh muid gach aon iarracht a dhéanamh chun an cogadh seo a stopadh. Tá muid sa tír seo ag déanamh gach iarrachta agus tá sé sin soiléir ón méid atá déanta againn go dtí seo ó thaobh cúrsaí polaitíochta agus airgeadais de agus ó thaobh na cabhrach agus tacaíochta atá tugtha againn go UNRWA agus a lán comhlachtaí eile atá cumasach ó thaobh cabhrach agus tacaíochta a thabhairt i gcúrsaí bia, sláinte, oideachais agus mar sin de.

Ireland has comprehensively stood up on this issue and is recognised across the world as having a very distinctive and robust position on the war in Gaza. Ireland was one of the first countries in the European Union to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We have supported UN resolutions on successive occasions. Ireland is also one of the first countries in Europe to take the lead in supporting Arab peace initiative resolutions at the UN. We have used every political, financial, diplomatic and humanitarian measure we possibly can to help the people of Gaza, and the people of Palestine more generally, in terms of the unacceptable and extraordinary situation of hunger, famine, death and destruction that is being visited on them. We are very clear on that.

Only the week before last, the Attorney General was before the International Court of Justice in respect of the United Nations General Assembly seeking an advisory opinion on the legality of Israel's occupation in Palestine. That started long before the war. I oversaw and cleared the robust written legal submission we made to the court last July. This was followed up by the oral participation of the Attorney General. I say this because it demonstrates that Ireland takes legal cases seriously. The Deputy has used language that is not quite accurate or correct. He said we failed to intervene. We have not failed to intervene in any case and the Deputy knows that deep down but, unfortunately, he is just playing politics with it again. Sinn Féin is seeking to divide the House and create a wedge issue, as if it is more virtuous than anybody else. I respectfully suggest that Sinn Féin has a role also. It has been too silent in the United States. I have seen no effort from Sinn Féin to go to the United States or to address the issue on its social media platforms in the United States. Sinn Féin has been very vocal on other issues but on the Palestinian question it has been extraordinarily silent in the United States. I have gone to Washington and spoken to Senators and some of Sinn Féin's friends who challenged me about Ireland's position on Israel and Palestine. I actually suggested to one or two of them that they should talk to Sinn Féin on these issues. I say this because Sinn Féin is having a cut at the Government all the time and making inaccurate statements on the matter. It should not be doing that. The Deputy knows our position on the International Court of Justice and the genocide convention. South Africa itself has not yet filed a memorial on that case. It will probably have it ready in two to three months. We and our legal team are working on it. That is the official position.

We need hostages to be released and we need this war to stop. There can be no incursion into Rafah. We were one of the first countries to say stop pausing aid to UNWRA and we came up with a €20 million allocation some weeks ago to demonstrate our clear focus on relieving the humanitarian crisis facing Gazans. Unquestionably, there is no one in this House who is not appalled by or does not abhor what is happening to the people of Gaza. It is wrong; I condemn it and I have called for it to stop now.

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