Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on this motion regarding the genocide in Gaza, and to the Social Democrats for bringing it forward. This is an incredibly important issue for the Irish people. The marches, vigils and protests calling for a ceasefire that we have seen across the country over the past year have shown once again that the people are ahead of the Government on this. We have been shown this week, through the response to the FOI request published by The Ditch, which mainstream media tried to ignore, that this Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party is more interested in appeasing the Americans than listening to the voices of hundreds of thousands of Irish people.

It is plain to see the Government is interested in being seen to be doing the minimum to try to keep the Irish people happy and not piss off the Yanks, which is clearly a real concern of this Government. We are treated to the weasel words from the Government to say it is doing all it can. Hospitals in Gaza continued to be attacked and journalists, healthcare and humanitarian workers continue to work under life threatening conditions. A month ago, Gaza's Ministry of Health reported more than 43,000 Palestinians, including 16,000 children, had been killed in Israeli attacks and thousands more were buried under rubble and threatened by illness. That number is most definitely significantly higher now. Every day brings new atrocities. The Palestinian people must feel completely abandoned by the European Union and the international community; they are right and they have been.

When Ireland recognised the State of Palestine earlier this year, I said it would be an empty gesture without action. We are still waiting to see any meaningful action. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have refused to pass the occupied territories Bill, which I had restored to the Dáil Order Paper last term. This Government had every opportunity to pass this Bill and it did not. A future government must ensure this Bill is passed and our airports and air space are not used to transport arms. We must close Shannon Airport to the US military by banning US military aircraft from landing at the airport. Ireland needs to take a meaningful stand against America's facilitation of Israeli genocide against Palestine. In terms of meaningful actions that Ireland can take to support the people of Palestine, this is by far the most important. It is well beyond time to take that action and ensure Ireland plays no part in aiding Israel's apartheid regime.

See this speech in context