Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The Government is subjected to humiliation by the banks and the response of the Taoiseach is to make a telephone call to another banker to see what he should do.

I wish to call a different humiliation to the Tánaiste's attention, however. Last Friday, a foreign state, Israel, jailed 14 Irish citizens who were snatched from international waters while bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has not uttered a single word of protest in public in response to this outrage.

This morning, by agreement with the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv, seven of those citizens were to be put on a British Airways flight. They were brought to the airport and driven around before Israeli security forces prevented them from boarding their aircraft and brought them back to prison, where they are now being held incommunicado. For the past six days, citizens of this State, including an MEP, councillors and others of equal merit, have been kept in an Israeli jail and subjected to continuous harassment, strip searches, disorientation techniques and humiliation.

The staff of the Irish embassy have worked hard but, while they have done their job, the Tánaiste, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of this State, has not acted as he should to condemn this action and demand the immediate release of these citizens. I ask him to summon the Israeli ambassador as soon as he leaves this Chamber to give him one hour to reveal the details on the release and safe sending home of our citizens. If he does not, I ask the Tánaiste to expel him. At least we can thereby make it clear to the world that we and people internationally will not stand for what Israel has done in continuing to imprison the people of Gaza and in acting in this illegal high-handed way, like pirates.

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