Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Arab and Islamic representatives to discuss the conflict in the Middle East. [52009/23]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach to report on his meetings with representatives from member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and with ambassadors from various Arab states to Ireland. [52323/23]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Arab and Islamic representatives to discuss the conflict in the Middle East. [53488/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Arab and Islamic representatives to discuss the conflict in the Middle East. [53588/23]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Arab and Islamic representatives to discuss the conflict in the Middle East. [53591/23]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach to report on any recent discussions he has had and continues to have with other world leaders in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [53860/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 20, inclusive, together.

I met with a group of resident Arab ambassadors and representatives of countries from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Government Buildings on Tuesday, 21 November to discuss the situation in the Middle East, and in particular the ongoing conflict between Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups and Israel, and the terrible impact this conflict is having on the people of Gaza.

The meeting provided me with an opportunity to hear their views on the dire and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the rising violence and deaths in the West Bank. I emphasised Ireland’s clear position that international humanitarian law applies in all conflicts, in all circumstances, to state and non-state actors alike.

We discussed the urgent need for a humanitarian ceasefire and the need to de-escalate the crisis. I assured the group of Ireland’s commitment to do all we can, working within the EU and with our international partners, to bring about an end to the conflict, to provide critical aid to the people of Gaza and to turn our efforts to securing a sustainable peace based on the two-State solution.

I thanked the ambassadors for their countries' support in helping Irish citizens and their dependents to leave Gaza. I also raised the case of Emily Hand and asked the group to use any influence their countries may have in securing the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. I think that the House will join me in welcoming the release by Hamas of Emily, who is now reunited with her family, and I am pleased that the Government could play its part in working for her release with our partners in the region.

My attendance at COP 28 in Dubai last week also gave me a further opportunity to speak with leaders from the region about the evolving situation. Among those I met were the Emir of Qatar, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt, the President of the United Arab Emirates, the Prime Minister of Lebanon and the Prime Minister of Iraq, who, in addition to offering their analysis, thanked the Irish Government for its strong position on the crisis.

We shared serious considerations about the dire and worsening humanitarian situation and our disappointment and dismay about the resumption of hostilities. We agreed that efforts must continue on seeking the establishment of a durable humanitarian ceasefire and towards reviving a political process based on a two-state solution.

I also thanked the leaders for their assistance in facilitating Irish citizens to leave Gaza as well as for their help with securing the release of Emily Hand and other hostages. I asked them to use any influence they have to secure the release of all hostages still being held in Gaza, in particular women and children.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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The bombardment of Gaza following the recent truce has recommenced with a vengeance. Southern Gaza is now in the firing line and the people of Gaza have nowhere to go. More and more civilians, including 6,000 children, have been killed. It is absolutely appalling what is happening. It is clear the international community, including the US and EU, did not do much to prevent the current hostilities breaking out and they were happy to accept the status quo and try to manage this situation. It is to be hoped that a much wider conflict in the region can be avoided and Arab states in particular have an important role to play in this regard. I am thinking especially of Egypt, Jordan and Qatar and Saudi Arabia in this context. Iran, of course, is a constant threat to international peace and security in the region and beyond.

In the Taoiseach's talks with the Arab and Islamic representatives did he get any sense of a collective view on the need for a permanent humanitarian ceasefire and on the ongoing need to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza? In addition, is there recognition that a just and lasting peace process will have to be commenced when the current hostilities have come to an end? Were views expressed on how Gaza should be governed in the longer term at the meeting with the representatives and at the COP meeting? I would be interested to hear what views the Taoiseach ascertained on these matters.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The Israeli army has files on the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza, including homes, which stipulate the number of civilians who are likely to be killed in an attack on a particular target. The magazine +972 ran an article on 30 November based on conversations with seven current and former Israel Defense Forces intelligence operatives. I began with one of the quotes, and here is another:

"Nothing happens by accident," said another source. "When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target.

One operative said the Habsora system, which is an artificial intelligence system that identifies targets, enables the army to run a "mass assassination factory". This is a genocide. The Taoiseach is not doing enough. The Government is not doing enough and the Taoiseach is not doing enough. Where is the action? It is a bloody disgrace. Where is the action, Taoiseach?

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We have all seen the failure to extend the ceasefire and to introduce a permanent ceasefire. In the long-term, peace is needed to deliver a negotiated settlement that provides real self-determination for the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, Benjamin Netanyahu's regime has done what it threatened to do and has gone back to its abject slaughter of Palestinians. We can only take the lessons from the information the Israelis are providing, namely, that they do not particularly care how many civilians are killed and that the only solution, from their point of view, is to remove the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip. I cannot see anything else is in their plans. This is a regime that abjectly failed to defend the Israeli people.

The Taoiseach stated the Government does not see anything magical it can do to deliver a ceasefire. We all accept that.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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What can we deliver at a European level? We need to hold Israel to account.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are way over time.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We need to work with those states that will possibly work with us at European level, not those that are not willing to call for a ceasefire. Then, really and truly, we may have to go it alone.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Earlier, I asked the Taoiseach about our obligations under the genocide convention. He claimed that it is only for one of the state parties affected to invoke it. This is just misleading the House. Under the genocide convention, to which Ireland, all the other EU states, the United States and, indeed, Israel, for that matter, have signed up, all have a responsibility to protect against and prevent genocide. Then we have every leading genocide scholar and scholars of the Holocaust saying genocide is taking place. We can see it in front of us. The Israeli Government's leaders have said they intended to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza. They have done so. Then they massacred people in southern Gaza. They prevented Palestinians from moving from Khan Younis. The Israelis have said they are going to starve the entire population of food and electricity. All these things are crimes under the genocide convention, and we do nothing. Is the Taoiseach honestly telling me that our responsibilities under the genocide convention are to lament it years later but to do nothing while genocide is happening in front of our eyes?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call Deputy Tóibín to conclude.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The recommencement of the war in Gaza is devastating. The IDF has admitted that yesterday was the most intense day since its ground war started in late October. UNICEF has said there are no safe zones anywhere in Gaza now. The World Health Organization, WHO, has said the situation is getting worse by the hour. Hamas has killed 1,200 people and taken 240 people hostage. That was a horrific war crime. However, 15,800 people have been killed by Israel just in the last two months. Shockingly, 6,000 of these have been children. In schools around our country before Christmas, little children will be singing songs about the first Christmas in Bethlehem, while at the same time children of the same age in Gaza will be slaughtered in their thousands by Israeli armaments. What real actions has this Government and the EU taken to force Israel into peace negotiations that will stick?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I hear a recurring theme from Deputies opposite. I think half of them are half-saying it and the other half are saying they are not saying it. It is that they seem to think that there is some sort of action the Government could take this evening or tomorrow that would cause the Prime Minister of Israel to think again and change his policy. Half the Opposition Deputies seem to be half-saying this half the time but then when I ask them if that is what they are saying, they say they are not saying it. I heard a very good analysis not that long ago from an expert on the history and politics of the region which made it very clear that not even at this stage will the views of the United States cause a change in policy in Israel. There would have been a time when Israel would have been very sensitive to what the US had to say in this regard.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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That is not true. It is not correct.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The view was that the only thing that is going to change this is a change of public opinion in Israel, and that is a very different thing-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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No way.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and something very different from change. Again, it is sad we have got to the point where people are so keen to score political points on an issue like this-----

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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You are washing your hands.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----that they somehow want to blame the Government for what is happening in Gaza.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Nobody is doing that.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In fairness, I do not think the Deputy is doing so, but I think some other people are. I think that is wrong and I find it objectionable because when I meet people-----

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Object all you like but you are washing your hands.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Foreign policy is important, and what we hear from the far left here are just gestures and pantomime. It does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people at all. When I meet with the Palestinian Authority and the Prime Minister of Palestine, they thank us for the position we are taking and the work we are doing. When I meet with Arab ambassadors, presidents and prime ministers, they recognise Ireland as one of the countries that is taking a principled stance on this issue. Then, when I come into this Chamber, I get shouted at from the far left as if I am somehow a representative of Israel. It is just so divorced from the reality of what we hear from people who are dealing with this in their own lives every day in the Arab world. It is, quite frankly, objectionable in my view.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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You are washing your hands.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Please, Deputy, let the Taoiseach finish.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Actually-----

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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It is genocide.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Sorry, I am just going to stop now because I am effectively being accused by Deputy Barry of somehow being responsible for what is happening in Gaza.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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No.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am going to sit down, Deputy. I think it is bang out of order. I am sorry.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There are other questions to be responded to.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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May I answer the other questions without being interrupted or shouted down?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I think it is beyond the pale in this House for those kinds of accusations to be made.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The clock has been adjusted if the Taoiseach wishes to conclude.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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On the question from Deputy Haughey, as to whether there is a collective view from the Arab countries that I engage with, I do not think it would be correct to say there is a collective view. There are different emphases from Egypt to Jordan to Qatar, for example. I think there is a majority view that there should be a permanent ceasefire; that there should be no expulsions of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank into Egypt and Jordan and they would not facilitate that; that there should not be a second Nakba, and we strongly agree with their position on that; that there should not be a future for Hamas in having any control of Gaza; that there should be no reoccupation of Gaza or territorial diminution of Gaza; and that Gaza would have to be handed back to some form of Palestinian control or a Palestinian authority when this current terrible phase of the conflict ends. I have to say Ireland would broadly be of the same view as those Arab countries and we offered to support those countries in any practical way we could. That is exactly what we are doing. What we are not going to get involved in are gesture politics, doing things that are ineffectual and that do not actually help the Palestinians, but just make us feel or look good. That is not a serious approach and does not merit anything, in my view.

Deputy Ó Murchú asked about what we are doing on a European level. There is no consensus at European level on this matter. We have been able to agree certain resolutions and certain language but the language is not precise enough, in my view. We do not have QMV votes on foreign policy, so this must be done on a unanimous basis, which makes it very hard - next to impossible - to have a common European position on this matter. We are one of about eight countries that are most sympathetic to the Palestinian people's rightful demand for justice and human rights and statehood, and we are co-ordinating with those countries as to what we can do that would actually be effective and can actually make a difference.

On the issue of the genocide convention, I sought advice on it. The advice I have is that it is the injured party that should initiate proceedings under the genocide convention. That makes a lot of sense to me. The Members opposite might not like that-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is just not accurate.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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They might not like the fact that the Palestinian Authority has decided not to-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is not accurate.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is the case that the Palestinian Authority has not decided to take, or at least my advice is that it has not taken, a case as an injured party.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is simply not the case.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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If I am incorrect on that, I am happy to clarify. Again, there are interruptions when uncomfortable facts are put across.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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No, when inaccuracies are stated.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Just on genocide, I think, or at least I hope, we all agree in this House that the Holocaust, the Shoah, was a genocide.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Absolutely.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Hitler killed 6 million people and he would have killed another 3 million to 6 million people if he could have. Deputy Boyd Barrett takes the view that the killing of 15,000 people in Gaza is a genocide, and it would appear that they intend to kill many more. I will ask this question, however, and I think it is a reasonable one to ask. Is what Hamas has done to Israel not also genocidal?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It does not have the capacity.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Hamas went into Israel, killed 1,400 people, including women and children, and took people hostage.

They would have killed many more if they had the chance. I have no doubt that Hamas would kill as many people in Israel as it possibly could if it was given the chance and had the weapons. Why is that not a genocide? Is 1,400 people not enough?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Palestinians are the oppressed, not the oppressor.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We have just over six minutes left. I have a choice. Question Nos. 21 to 31, inclusive, are grouped but Members will not have a chance to contribute. There is only time for the Taoiseach to outline his answer. Is that agreed?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is what agreed, sorry?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There is no time left for Members to contribute. In the time that is left, I can allow the Taoiseach to do so, if we all agree.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Should we not leave it until tomorrow?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That is-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is all housing. It is better to leave it until tomorrow.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Is that the agreement of the House?

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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No, I do not agree. There are six minutes left.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We are not going to get in all the speakers.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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To be clear, no speaker is going to get in. The time that is left will be taken by the Taoiseach in his reply. Are we in agreement that it will go into tomorrow so that everybody can get in?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Agreed.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Go raibh maith agat.