Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

The Palestinian people are being starved to death in Gaza. We have heard again and again, rightly, about the 14,000 babies who face death from deliberate starvation in the next 48 hours. This is while the Israeli Government is openly boasting about the ethnic cleansing being carried out. Let us not forget that the bombing continues, with 82 Palestinians killed by this indiscriminate bombing in the last 24 hours. We should not allow a few late weasel words in the West to obscure the fundamental truth that this is a genocide made in the West. It is one that could not be happening if it were not for the funding, the arming and the supporting by the US, Germany, Britain, the European Union and many other countries.

What does the Irish Government do? It is true that the Irish Government has good, strong words of criticism of the war crimes of Israel. We could do with a very clear statement describing what is happening as genocide. What actions, however, does the Government take? Ultimately, its defence is that it is less complicit - less complicit than Starmer or Biden or Trump. The Minister of State and his Government, however, are still complicit because they are not acting to stop a genocide. They are dragging their heels on the occupied territories Bill. We heard from Deputy O'Gorman about the advice that he received and that has been published by The Ditch. The Attorney General was clear: it is a political choice not to proceed with that Bill. The Government is allowing Israeli war bonds to be traded in the European Union, authorised by the Irish Central Bank, shamefully. The Government is doing nothing - hear no evil, see no evil - about the thousands of tonnes of munitions flying illegally through Irish airspace to be used in this genocide. When I raised this with the Tánaiste two weeks ago, I got a letter back from the Minister for Transport saying that an examination is ongoing and that a considerable amount of documentation has had to be scrutinised. This has been happening for nine months, during which time the airlines have said it is happening and this has been on their waybills. We know a draft report was finished on 13 March. When will the report be published? When will action be taken to stop these overflights?

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