Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

First things first, since the very start of this crisis on 7 October and the response from the Israeli Government and military, the Irish Government has been absolutely clear and adamant and was first up in the European context in calling for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities. The wording of the motion could not be clearer that our absolute and overwhelming priority must be to advocate for an immediate stop to the death and destruction in Gaza and to take relevant actions to that end. We have been consistent on that from the very start. We have not just been consistent in our response to what has happened in Gaza over the past 100 days. I would argue that the Irish Government and Irish State has been consistent for decades in terms of standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people, for a whole variety of historical reasons.

Let us not depict this as something to divide the Opposition and the Government. I do not see it as such because what we are seeing is absolutely horrific. As I said last week, the World Food Programme has provided evidence that hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of immediate starvation. This is unprecedented and requires urgency. The scale of this is incredible, not to mention the bombing of hospitals, universities, families, journalists - the list goes on. We absolutely accept and understand that, which is why we are giving Government time here today. This is an issue for Government, the Opposition and every party in this House, for the Irish people and for countries and people right around the world.

I thank my party Whip, Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh, for his specific proposal that we would table the motion in Government time. That was appropriate.

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