David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Tánaiste and his officials. Since the Bill was published, I know things have got infinitely worse in that part of the world. What is happening down there is way beyond what any of us could imagine in our worse nightmare. We see it every day and every night on our screens, as with other conflicts, like in Sudan, that we mentioned previously, and obviously Ukraine, where things have gone off the charts at the moment. That is not going well either. There is terrible suffering going on there. I commend the Tánaiste on the work he has been doing to try to bring about a ceasefire, which is probably the most important thing and where we should be putting all our energies now and using every avenue we can to bring about a ceasefire as soon as possible. I would like to know what is happening at European level with other governments to put pressure on to bring about a complete ceasefire and the cessation of killing and violence on all sides. That should be our number one target.

I read somewhere that the Bill involves about €1 million worth of goods. We can clarify that. I welcome the fact it is being progressed. I know from being in Ministries before that you have to be very careful with amendments and you have to make sure they are correct because if you get them wrong, you will be in serious trouble and you will be back where you started or even worse. I encourage that the amendments be brought forward as soon as possible and that they would be passed by all. I just want to ensure we do not lose sight of the bigger picture, which is a complete and total ceasefire and the stopping of the killing and the slaughter of men, women and children on all sides. The release of hostages, as was said earlier, has to happen. Let us get humanitarian aid in there as quickly as possible. There are people starving in those countries at the moment. We are talking about €1 million worth of goods coming into Europe. We should be trying to find ways of stopping people from starving in Gaza and now in Lebanon. I dealt with the Syrian issue, as did the Cathaoirleach. Syrians had to leave and now we will probably see Lebanese having to leave and Lebanese refugees. This is another catastrophe facing us. This is extraordinarily serious. The far bigger picture here is to get a ceasefire as soon as possible. We should all unite on this straight away. I will not be here for too long more with an election in a couple of days but every time I look at this I think it is just shocking and appalling on all sides.

Let this Bill go through. As the Senator said, it will not stop the war or do a whole lot. It is symbolic, it is political and so on. We should not get totally tied up in this and lose sight of the bigger picture, which has escalated, in all due respect to the Senator. She brought forward the Bill at a time when things were far less fraught - infinitely less - than they are now. Things were not good but what is happening there now is apocalyptic. It is just shocking. The whole of Gaza has been levelled, as was said. South Lebanon is facing the same thing, a most beautiful part of the world which should be booming with tourism and so on. Many of us have been there and have see, this happen. It is ghastly. It is biblical, virtually. That is where we should be putting our energies. Let us stop the squabbling and the point scoring. This is far too serious for point scoring from any side. That is what I want to say on this matter.

I commend the Tánaiste on the work he is doing and encourage him to keep at it to get a full and complete ceasefire as soon as possible. In any discussions he has with anybody, be they ambassadors, presidents or ministers anywhere, that should be the message from Ireland. We want a complete ceasefire now. Let us get aid to those children, women and men who are starving at the moment and then try to rebuild and go for the two-state solution or whatever it might be for a permanent complete peace out there. That is not going to be easy.