Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

The Madleen humanitarian flotilla was illegally intercepted by Israel in international waters. This is piracy, it is kidnapping and it is a crime to stop aid being delivered to starving children and people. Four people have been deported, including Greta Thunberg, and eight detained, and we commend their bravery. Three ambulance crew and a journalist were among the murdered last night. The Taoiseach gets annoyed when we say the Irish State is complicit, but he and the Tánaiste have both recognised that there is a genocide, yet they have done nothing active to stop it. For example, did the Taoiseach lodge an objective to what the Israelis did last night? Would he agree to the Naval Service going there to try to deliver humanitarian aid? He is shaking his head. What else should the Naval Service be doing, as part of a neutral country, other than trying to take part in humanitarian endeavours like that? If 12 activists can go on a ship, how can a professional navy not do that? Will the Taoiseach ask the EU?

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