Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last night was a missed opportunity in the context of the votes on the atrocities in Gaza and the proceedings before the International Court of Justice, ICJ. Our national Parliament had the chance to achieve unanimity in standing up for international law and against war, death and destruction. It is unfortunate that the House divided. I was particularly disappointed that the Government voted against the amendments from Labour and other Opposition parties to the Government motion. The amendments restated calls for a ceasefire and committed to intervening in the ICJ case in support of South Africa after provisional measures have been sought by that court. The Tánaiste will know that over the past week I have engaged in seeking support for a cross-party motion on Gaza and the ICJ proceedings. The motion in questions was drafted by Sadaka. Now that the votes have happened, what steps will be taken to fulfil the Government's obligation under the genocide convention to conduct an assessment of whether there is a serious risk of genocide in Gaza. Those were the steps set out in the motion drafted by Sadaka, which we, as a House, should have been able to unite on.

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