Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too want to raise the situation in Gaza. A lot of words have been used in the past ten days and, of course, the World Health Organization came out today to describe the situation as a human catastrophe. We need to reflect on what those words really mean - a deprivation of the most basic means to subsist, a lack of water, a lack of electricity and hospitals facing the prospect of closing over the next 24 hours. It is outrageous that we are seeing the Israeli Government perpetuate a collective punishment on all of the people in Gaza.

Of course, people are hurting on all sides. The provocative barbarity of Hamas has to be condemned, and I think most of us condemn it. However, the actions of the Israeli Government cannot continue. Senator Gavan is right that time is of the essence, and I support the efforts to try to come up with a motion for Thursday's debate in the House. There has to be a cessation of violence now and there has to be peace. I know people have different views on what that peace needs to look like, but we are witnessing the annihilation of a people in Gaza at this point in time by an Israeli Government. That has to be called out and it has to stop.

The other issue that I want to raise concerns the section 39 organisations. We thought this morning that we were facing into yet another strike and, thankfully, we are not. It is to the enormous credit of SIPTU, Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation that they brokered a deal very late last night but it is outrageous that the Government forced these workers into such a situation. In talking to some of the organisations over recent days, they have reported a fivefold increase in union membership over the past two years of this campaign to try to get pay parity and pay fairness within section 39 organisations. There is something in that, which is that when workers come together, they can achieve something.

I call for a debate with the Minister for Health. We have had a shocking set of public pronouncements in recent days, most notably on Sunday by the chief executive of the HSE, who said the budget agreed for the HSE next year is a fiction and that they have budgeted for a deficit. We need to hear from the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, who is charged with negotiating the budget for our health services next year. We all know the impact on our services of the shortages at the moment, but given the shortages that are going to arise when we do not even have money in the health service to stand still next year, let alone meet the massive recruitment need, we need to hear from the Minister what he proposes to do about that.