Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

We need a step change. Someone needs to lead the international community in a different way. I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for bringing forward our motion. It will be voted on tonight and we want everyone to support it. We need to lead that step change. Our proud history as a country in trying to lead on international change, international relations and peacekeeping dictates that we have a moral duty to do so. We all condemn what happened in relation to Hamas on 7 October 2023. We call for the release of all hostages. Simply put, what is happening now is genocide. The Israeli Government is conducting genocide. If any members of that government stepped off a plane here in Ireland, I would expect them to be arrested. I expect the Tánaiste would agree with that. As a country, we have to stoke a UN Assembly which is effectively neutralised because of an Israeli lobby that is so powerful around the world. Somebody has to act. Why can it not be little Ireland? Why can it not be this country? Why can it not be us? That is what we are trying to drive today, by ensuring that this House is mandated to call a special assembly to ensure that an emergency special session is called where a resolution states that the Security Council has failed and the international community has not acted. There are precedents for this. Under Resolution 377 A, which was passed by the General Assembly in 1950, we are now calling for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and, most importantly, an international peacekeeping force that will ensure people are not starving and that peace can be maintained and aid can get into Gaza. Every day, as we are standing, talking and debating here, children are dying. Will the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade do that on behalf of the Irish people following a mandate given to him by this House, as proposed by Deputy Smith and the Labour Party today?

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