Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need to pass the occupied territories Bill. This Government has had more than enough time to iron out any issues and any concerns they had. They could have done it but they did not do it, on purpose. I agree it is important that we stand up and use our voice for words of condemnation. When a genocide is happening, however, words of condemnation are simply just not enough. It seems there has been a focus here on optics rather than action and on soundbites rather than substance. When we see the televised genocide going on in Gaza it is just simply not good enough. Headlines are not good enough. We need to have action. We know that Israel will not stop until the international community makes it stop: not tells them but makes them stop. We here in this Chamber and in Ireland have a central role in that but we are not doing it.

I do not think anyone can understand how sanctions could be imposed so quickly on Russia and then not on Israel. Despite everything that Israel has done we have not seen action. This is a state that has killed more UN officials than any other. This is a state that regularly uses white phosphorus. This is state that is in repeated violations of international law and human rights law. This is a state that has killed around 186,000 people. It has been bombing civilians in Lebanon. It will not stop unless we as an international community force it to.

I put it to the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, that while we cannot control what everybody else is doing and that there are serious issues on an international basis as to what is happening and the support that has been given to Israel, we can only do what we can do here. It is good that Ireland has been very much to the forefront in speaking out against the actions of Israel and in condemning them, but we have not done what we could do, which are the things that are within our control, number one of which is the occupied territories Bill. The Minister of State's own party agreed with it before they were in government and now they cannot seem to put it into action. What we need in this Chamber is to all grow a bit of a spine to stop what is going on with the munitions flights going through our airspace even as the people in this State are completely on the side of the people of Gaza and even as we are constantly telling Israel to stop. Yet, we then find out - not from the Minister or from the Government - from The Ditch that munitions are being flown over and through our airspace. Not only that, we then find out that The Ditch warned the Government in advance at least four times that this was going to happen on four separate occasions and the Government did nothing about it. When I say that we need to grow a spine my God it is this Government that needs to grow a spine. It is really outrageous. It goes against the complete will of the Irish people, it goes against what is morally right and it goes against what is legally right. It is absolutely shocking.

Perhaps the Minister of State might address my question in his closing remarks on whether Ireland is meeting its obligations under the genocide convention when we knowingly have munitions flying across our airspace. I look forward to hearing his response on that. We must ask ourselves what it is we are doing to stop this genocide and what role we have as a State in allowing this to continue. This may be the last day of this Dáil term but one thing that had always united this entire Dáil was the issue of Gaza. We stood together in relation to this. It is incredibly disappointing that now at the conclusion of this Dáil we did not and could not do what we wanted to do such as the occupied territories Bill, to stand strong against what is happening in Israel and to put our heads above the parapet, and not just shout stop but make sure that we have no hand, act or part in the genocide in Gaza. Unfortunately now the time has run out. The Dáil will probably be dissolved tomorrow and none of this will have happened. I find this outrageous.

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