Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

This evening, the Minister stands between €12 billion that has been spent on bombs and bullets to slaughter the people of Gaza. The Minister and the Government can stop that. The horrors and the genocide being visited on the people of Gaza by the State of Israel is shocking, disturbing and disgusting. I have never seen a state so devoid of humanity and so cruel and callous - a child with no head; a child crawling through the flames of a makeshift hospital camp trying to get to safety; patients burned to death as they lie in their hospital beds; more than 55,000 dead Palestinians; dead doctors; dead journalists; dead aid workers; countless more maimed and living with horrific injuries; children with no families; and parents with no children. This is not a war. Gaza has no army. This is an unrelenting occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. It is an annihilation that is being livestreamed day after day. It is hard not to feel utterly useless in the face of the onslaught but there are things that we can do. Sinn Féin's war bond Bill will remove the permission provided by the Central Bank for the sale of Israeli bonds across the EU. It is compatible with EU law and Irish law and must be enacted. Some 14,000 babies are close to death from forced starvation. I ask the Government not to besmirch our own history of forced starvation and enact this Bill to prevent Israel using Ireland to raise money for its genocide. Sinn Féin remains steadfast in its support for Palestine. Saoirse don Phailistín.

See this speech in context