Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The situation in the Gaza Strip is deeply shocking and I echo the comments of the Tánaiste and Deputies here in this House in decrying the appalling conditions in which the people of Gaza are now living and the terrible loss of life. The Government's priorities are clear and consistent. It is clear that a durable ceasefire is needed immediately and that there needs to be a drastic increase in the level of humanitarian aid reaching people in Gaza. The Government continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. We are continuing to work on these priorities in our bilateral contacts, as well as at European level and at the United Nations.

It must be noted that Ireland was one of the first countries in the EU to call for a humanitarian ceasefire. Our Attorney General will travel to The Hague next month to participate in the proceedings at the International Court of Justice on a case on the legality of Israel's policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories. Ireland has been at the forefront in pushing for EU sanctions against violent settlers displacing Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Micheál Martin was the first foreign minister in the world to express full confidence in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General on Saturday when news broke of the possible participation of a small number of UNRWA employees in the heinous attacks on 7 October and others were deciding to halt funding to UNRWA's essential work on that particular day.

It has been mentioned that the opening speech on behalf of the Government did not get into the detail of the motion. I thank the party opposite for tabling the motion. People should understand that we are not opposing the vast bulk of the motion. In simple English, there is a motion before us from the Opposition party consisting of 56 lines of text. The amendment we have proposed comes to no more than two lines. The vast majority, 99%, of the motion, as presented, is being accepted by the Government. I will give an indication of the few minor amendments that we are making to the Opposition proposal. We want to insert the words-----

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