Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was a former Secretary General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, describing what the United Nations was about, who said it was not created in order to bring us to heaven but in order to save us from hell. If there is one thing clear from my constituents, it is that the Middle East is in absolute hell right now. What people in my constituency want is for the war to end and for the hostages to be freed as the very first step. The issue I would like to raise is the lack of authority of the United Nations and the lack of mandate it appears to have to bring about that peace and to stop that hell. The paralysis that is very clear in the Security Council, when the United Nations is unable to act effectively in Ukraine and now in the Middle East, is a cause of grievous concern for the vast majority of people who speak to me. The world is now a much more dangerous place because of all these troubles and because of the lack of determination internationally to stop this war and bring about peace.

Absent from some contributions to this debate is the question of who caused this initial trouble. It was Hamas who went in and who raped, murdered and killed 1,500 people in cold blood. It had absolutely no mandate and no reason to do it. The reaction from Israel has been equally and just as bad as what Hamas did. I believe, and it is the Government's objective, that both Israel and Hamas must be held accountable for any and all violations of international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ireland fully supports the investigation of this by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which is vital to ensure accountability. We need to go back to what I said initially, and we must use all our efforts through the United Nations, through our Government contacts and through all parties in this House and none to ensure the war stops now. Some of the debate has been about whether this is a collective punishment, whether it is ethnic cleansing, or whether it is daily massacres and indiscriminate slaughter. It is all and each and every one of those. We are just appalled by the killing, the serious injury, the destruction of living conditions and the famine that is close to the door now of many people in Palestine. I welcome this debate. I like to think we would agree and unite in this House on the two main aims and that, whatever divisions there might be about defining different words, we want the killing to stop, we want the war to end and we want the Government to continue to use every potential, every door and every access it has to ensure this happens.

See this speech in context