Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I mentioned earlier, the Attorney General will travel to the ICJ in The Hague on 22 February and will make Ireland's intervention in respect of the case relating to Israel and Palestine and the actions happening in that regard in person. This demonstrates that we take these matters seriously and that we take the ICJ seriously. On the genocide convention case, we will adopt the same approach that we did in respect of Russia and Ukraine. We will wait until South Africa files its memorial - its main case. We will consider it and at that point we will decide on the nature of any intervention. We do agree that South Africa's case is valid.

The motion put down by the Deputy's party is good in parts, but I think it is flawed. I would like the party to consider amending it. The motion does not condemn Hamas. It does not call for the release of the hostages, and I think that is wrong. It does not call for Hamas to cease fire or to disarm. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, and terrorist organisations should disarm. The only real mention of Hamas and the events of 7 October is to say that they do not justify Israel's actions. I do not think that is good enough.

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