Brian Brennan (Wicklow-Wexford, Fine Gael)

I thank the Chair and congratulate him on the balance he is bringing to this debate. We have listened to the history, the financial aspects and complex legal argument but we also have to listen to the humanitarian side of it.

I did not expect to go down this route but I will speak on something I did not expect to speak about. I am not sure what Mr. Shatter did over the weekend but I got on a plane and went to Cairo to meet the people on the coalface. I went on my own; there was no media circus. I went on a personal capacity and paid my own way. I met the NGOs who are on the coalface. These are hardened NGOs and have been all over the world and have seen catastrophic scenes but what is going on in Gaza is simply on a different scale.

I went and sat on a bed with a young man who was in the prime of his life and he has two months to live because of what is happening in Gaza. I played football with teenage kids who are orphans because of what is happening in Gaza. I held the hand of a two-year-old child who had bullet wounds because of what is happening in Gaza.

When Mr. Shatter says to me and this committee this is a token gesture and fantasy politics - performance politics - I totally reject that. How dare he come in here and make such statements. "A Father Ted Bill." You speak to the people on the ground who matter and listen to what they have got to say about this Bill. They knew everything about this Bill. The NGOs have seen what is going on. The humanity coming from Mr. Shatter, with all due respect, is just simply lax. Let me speak; it is my time to speak.