Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The question people are asking now, quite rightly, is "How many more?". How many more debates do we need to have, how many more statements do we need to have, how many more motions do we need to bring before this House?

More importantly, how many more Palestinians need to be murdered because currently we are at over 25,000? That is essentially 1% of the entire population of Gaza. How many more women and children, because they make up 70% of that number? In fact, children make up over 10,000 of those Israel has murdered. How many more healthcare professionals have to be killed doing their job in Gaza? The figure currently stands at almost 340. How many journalists telling the world what is happening have to be murdered by Israel? The number currently stands at about 120. How many more people have to be displaced, because currently we are talking about over 2 million people, which is virtually the entire population of Gaza. How many more hospitals have to be attacked because now it stands at every single hospital in Gaza? Just 15 out of the 36 hospitals that were in Gaza are even partially functioning. How many more buildings in Gaza need to be destroyed? It is about 50% at this stage. How many Palestinian people in Gaza are going to be forced to starve to death or die of entirely preventable diseases before we match what are welcome strong words with strong actions?

We have had strong words. I have commended the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and other Government Ministers when those strong words have been uttered, but they should not pretend those strong words have just come naturally because it took quite a number of days into this conflict before the word "ceasefire" was agreed by the Tánaiste in a motion before this House. It took even longer before words "we condemn Israel for its actions" were agreed by the Government. On the ICJ, the Tánaiste has used the word "misleading" on quite a number of occasions to describe the approach of the Opposition. I remind him that when the Taoiseach was asked directly whether Ireland would support the ICJ case being brought by South Africa his answer was "No" and that he did not intend to do so. I therefore welcome the fact the Government has moved on all those issues but it should not pretend it has not and it should not pretend it is not as a result of the Members of this House trying to pro-actively bring the Government to a point where we take action-----

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