Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about the horror in Gaza and Israel. It is terrible to see small children with their small lives snuffed out by bombs and bullets. We are a very small country. All we can do is ask that there be a ceasefire. I wonder where the UN peacekeeping force is. Why is it not intervening or at least attempting to intervene? It is fine to have courts. We do not know the answer the court will deliver because there have been atrocities on both sides but it is clear that the Israeli side has gone too far and it has to stop.

Where is the United Nations peacekeeping force? Why is it not getting involved? I am also disappointed with the United States. It should be putting on more pressure. It seems to be aligned closely with Israel, and has been for many years. I suppose going back to the Second World War, they have kind of been together. It is time it stopped. When a person loses their life that is the end of it. There is no coming back. There is no second chance. We see little children and their mothers with limbs, arms, eyes and everything gone, and lives are gone. It is terrible. It is horrible to look at the scenes in the news. We see them and watch them every night. It is terrible. It has to stop. We will support anything that stops the violence. I am asking and pleading that the Government does its best to call for peace and call in the United Nations peacekeeping force. I believe that is what it is for, to try to do something to stop this reckless loss of life.

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