Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

What is happening in Gaza now is undoubtedly genocide and I welcome the fact the Government is now using that language. This is the position of the Government as articulated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and it is important to remember that. In my lifetime, I cannot remember such scenes as we are witnessing in Gaza. Children are being left without families and children are being killed in their tens of thousands. People are starving while the Gaza Strip is surrounded by aid convoys that want to get in but are prevented from doing so. These are the most appalling war crimes. This is language the Minister has used. I do not doubt the Minister finds these things appalling. I do not suggest that for one second, but the point of realising that is to ask whether we are using all the levers we can and taking all the actions we can.

What is not in dispute, or at least as I understand it, is that these bonds are being facilitated by the Central Bank. What is not in dispute is that Israel is openly advertising the sale of these bonds to fund what it calls a war effort. In our view, it is funding the arms and munitions and everything else that goes towards the genocide that is happening. This is not in dispute.

The Minister has used technical arguments and, to be honest, I am sceptical on the basis of the OPLA and what Deputy Doherty and the Attorney General have outlined. Very often, when politics dictate it, legal grounds can shift. We saw this recently with the rent pressure zones, RPZ. The Minister insists on technical arguments, but I have not heard him say whether or not it is desirable. I have not heard him say that if he could do it, he would do it. I want to hear that from the Minister, because if he can do it technically, then he should do it. Unfortunately, I suspect that the Minister has concluded that politically, he cannot or will not do so. On that, he is absolutely wrong.

See this speech in context