Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak. I had to go to the Chamber earlier and I was worried the engagement might have ended but some of my colleagues are fantastic at keeping things going. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. I have a couple of questions. The first relates to the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The Minister of State is not party to the Council but he mentioned the Tánaiste will attend. As the Minister of State is the designated liaison, I will put the question his way. In a sense, it is a rhetorical question. The Minister of State has already passed it on but I have to reiterate that had the legislation on the Israeli war bonds been passed, we would have had an opportunity to say to our European Union colleagues "This is what we have done; what will you do?" It might not have got any further but we should still be putting pressure on at European level in relation to any measures, including financial measures. Obviously, the Tánaiste is responsible for this area and has responded on other aspects of the Gaza conflict.

To speal about Iran for a moment, obviously all of us condemn the Israeli bombing of Iran and urge the US not to join in. I tabled a number of parliamentary questions several weeks back about Iran and our country's attitude towards the existing regime. While I would not countenance any bombing of the civilian population, Iran is by no means a democratic country. Its elections are not free and fair. It has record numbers of executions. The regime has murdered tens of thousands of its own population systematically at different times and has clamped down on any efforts by civilians to achieve proper democratic engagement and input.