Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

There is a moment in public life that demands more than ideology. It demands conscience, clarity and, above all, courage. The motion before us, brought by the Social Democrats, seeks to express opposition to Israel's war efforts by way of economic instrument, by targeting war bonds and financial ties.

As a centrist, I approach this and other motions like this with deliberation of mind and a steady hand. I do not believe foreign policy should be conducted by slogan or that Ireland's voice would be made stronger by shouting the loudest. However, silence too is a decision and as we face what we have seen in the past year, silence could be taken as complicity. We have witnessed a catastrophe unfold in Gaza. More than 50,000 lives have been lost. Many of them were children. We have seen cities flattened, hospitals destroyed and families buried beneath rubble. They are not just numbers. They are names, have stories and they are loved ones.

Let us speak plainly in this House. The atrocities committed on 7 October were barbaric. Hamas carried out a brutal assault on innocent civilians and any nation has the right to defend itself from terror, but that right is not unlimited. We cannot justify collective punishment. It cannot justify the erasure of a people. Israel has a right to security, but the people of Palestine have a right to dignity, to self-determination and to life. Where does that leave us in this House? If we are to be a republic built on human rights and the principle of neutrality rooted in peace and not passivity, we cannot avert our gaze from alleged war crimes, starvation being used as a weapon or international law being disregarded. That is why, although I may not endorse every element of this motion's framing, I support it in spirit. I support the idea that Ireland should not support financial instruments that fund any destruction - destruction in Gaza or anywhere else in the world. This is not about choosing a side in an internal conflict; it is about choosing humanity over cruelty, law over chaos and peace over permanent war. If Ireland, small as it may be, can stand up in this Chamber and in the chambers of the world to say we will not fund bombs but we will fund peace, surely that is the leadership we need today.

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