Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise my genuinely deep concern about the practices that have been implemented this morning in relation to the motion on Palestine. In particular, I am concerned about the deeply cynical decision to put in a further Government amendment at around 11.35 a.m., giving us absolutely no opportunity to table an amendment to that amendment and effectively ruling all our amendments out of order. It is really poor practice, particularly when this was supposed to be a cross-party motion. There was no engagement with Sinn Féin in relation to this motion, certainly in the Seanad. I think it is very poor form. Behind the very cynical tactics by the Government is a fundamental issue of principle. One of the key amendments that Sinn Féin was proposing sought to condemn the murder of 1,000 children in Gaza in the last week. It is very noticeable that the Government amendment to the original motion contains no condemnation whatsoever. I want to be clear on this. I know that when we come in here, all of us have to compromise at times. That is the way politics works. It seems that every Government Senator in here is apparently unwilling to stand up and condemn the mass murder of 1,000 children in the last week. That is what this Government amendment is attempting to do. It is trying to rule out of order our attempt to include equally the value of the lives of those Palestinians. That is just not right.It is fundamentally wrong. It is something that will revisit a number of people here. That is an absolute fact. When some people next stand for election, it will be remembered that they were given the opportunity to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza, including carpet bombing and the mass extermination of more than 1,000 children, and they chose not to do so. That is unforgivable.