Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some 24,500 people have been killed in Gaza, 70% of whom were women and children. More than 10,000 children have been murdered. Some 8,000 civilians are buried under the rubble, more than 60,000 have been injured, and 1.9 million or 85% of the population have been displaced. Half of the buildings, housing more than 2 million human beings, have been either damaged or destroyed over a period of months. People face starvation that is unprecedented in recent human history.

How appropriate it was that South Africa took the case to the International Court of Justice and that a tremendous Irishwoman, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, articulated the reason South Africa took that case. She spoke for the Irish people and those across the world who are devastated by these actions and feel powerless. It was incredibly powerful. If you talk to the activists who fought against the apartheid South African regime over the years, they will tell you the apartheid the Palestinian people have endured for all these years is much worse than what they endured. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem, one after the other and with expert analysis, have clearly demonstrated that Israel is an apartheid state.

What do we have from the Irish Government? It is a muted response. I spoke in the Dáil when the Human Rights Watch report came out, when the Amnesty International report came out, and when the B'Tselem report came out. I repeatedly asked the Government if they agree that Israel is an apartheid state. I have yet to hear a spokesperson for the Irish Government say "Yes we agree and we accept the findings of those human rights organisations". They cannot even do that.

Senator Frances Black is in the Chamber and is observing proceedings here. The Government could not support her Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. Even though it was passed by both Houses, this Government could not implement it. We are talking here about saying we will not do trade with people who commit international war crimes, engage in ethnic cleansing and conduct illegal settlements. This Government could not even do that. It could not implement legislation that was passed by both Houses. The Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 proposed to stop the investment by any arm of the Irish State into those illegal settlements and was brought forward by my colleague Deputy John Brady. The Government could not even do that. When the Dáil and the Seanad voted to recognise the state of Palestine the Government could not implement that. At every step of the way the Government has failed the Palestinian people. It gives comfort to the people whom we have heard on our TV screens and who were just quoted by a Minister. Because they have been allowed to get away with apartheid, with oppression, with ethnic cleansing, and with everything that they have done to the Palestinian people, of course they believe they will get away with this too because we have been completely impotent. When I say "we", I mean our Government because our people certainly do not share that. For years whenever the international community has talked about the two-state solution there has been confirmation from Netanyahu of his absolute rejection of that. There is no basis to hide behind some sort of international consensus. There is no basis anymore. This is a failed policy from our Government. Let us be absolutely clear about it.

On 18 July 1984 a Dunnes Stores shop worker, Mary Manning, refused to handle South African goods. That created a huge momentum and the Irish people rose up. A few years later the Irish Government got behind their people, brought in sanctions and confronted the apartheid regime. The Irish Government back then responded to the anger of our people and led the way. Why is it that our Governments again and again fail us with weakness? Even now in the face of unparalleled and unrivalled outrage they still fail to stand with our people. Tonight and tomorrow night the Government will refuse to accept amendments that are about basic decency and about standing on the side of righteousness, on the side of what is right, and on the side of the case taken by South Africa. The Government knows that it should associate itself with that case. It knows it should have done that: many countries did and those countries are on the right side of history. Our Government - not our Irish people - again and again are on the wrong side of this. The Government is too weak and is letting down our people again and again.

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