Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With all due respect, it is hardly convincing for the Taoiseach to warn us about the impending difficulties for the multi-annual framework for the budget when out of the other side of his mouth, he has lauded what amounts to a weapons race and a hyper-militarisation of Europe. It is also ironic to note that the origins of the European project going back to the European Coal and Steel Community were all about demilitarisation, deconstruction the apparatus of war and creating continental security and contributing to global security on that basis. This does not suit the von der Leyen leadership and has been thrown in the bin. We are asked to celebrate the fact that a system that is so penny-pinching regarding the big issues that face societies and communities, now opens up its largesse to keep the armaments industry happy and to remilitarise Europe. That is not a good news story but, of course, it is a story that resonates very strongly with the clear intention of the Taoiseach's Government to dismantle our position as non-aligned and militarily neutral. If the Taoiseach believes in that position, then he should go to the people with it and see what they think and get his response from them.

The meeting of the European Council took place days after Israel resumed its genocidal war on the people of Gaza. There have been fresh airstrikes, which have killed thousands of Palestinians in a matter of days, targeting civilian populations and again refugee camps. Again the majority of those killed have been children, women and the elderly. That ferocious aerial bombardment is now backed up by a new ground assault by the Israeli war machine. It coincides with new evacuation orders to a refugee population with literally nowhere to go. Israel has laid waste to towns, villages, communities and homes. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israel in the 18 months since they began this atrocity. Those who have died have died hungry. The resumption of the genocide follows Israel's complete blockade of humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies into Gaza. Israel had already cut off Gaza's electricity, which impacts on the supply of water. The threat of starvation and exposure to deadly disease is rife.

Journalists and medical teams have stated that this renewed attack resembles the height of the bombardment last year. Gaza's health system has been devastated, with its remnants completely overwhelmed.

On Friday, Israel bombed Gaza's only specialised cancer hospital. Medics do not have the equipment or supplies needed to treat the catastrophically injured. They watch people die before their eyes because they cannot treat them. One heartbroken surgeon shared how he operated on six children, knowing that they would not make it through the night.

On her visit to Ireland last week, Francesca Albanese who, as the Taoiseach knows, is the UN rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories - the Government did not meet her - put it powerfully. She said "It is not a war. This is a total elimination that will continue until the last breath of Palestinian life is gone in Gaza." It is a matter of shame that no representative of the Government could find time to meet with Ms Albanese while she was here.

The resumption of the genocide in Gaza is a result of the impunity handed to Israel by the international community, including the European Union. The Taoiseach says he is shocked by Israeli actions. It is not enough to be shocked. If he is so shocked, what precisely is he going to do about it? Israel broke the ceasefire because it knows it can. It knows that there is no accountability, no sanctions or no push for justice. That is why Netanyahu brazenly states that this murderous bombardment is, in his own words, "only the beginning", yet the Taoiseach and the European Union continue on a path of appeasement. The conclusions of the European Council meeting, as regards Gaza, deplore the breakdown of the ceasefire. They talk about humanitarian aid and call for the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement, as the Taoiseach has just done. What is glaringly and catastrophically missing at a European level and from the Taoiseach, despite all of his rhetoric, is any plan to pressurise Israel into ending its genocidal war. There is no mention of sanctions or any collective action by Europe to force Israel to restore the ceasefire or to engage in a real process that would ensure the agreement is fulfilled.

The word "Israel" does not appear even once in the conclusions of the meeting. Is that not extraordinary? It is as if Israel is not committing a genocide for all the world to see. Did the Taoiseach raise the need for Europe to stop handing this impunity to Israel? He should have made it clear. What exactly has he said on this subject? Depressingly, I suspect he has said very little, if in fact anything at all.

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