Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

Every day without fail when we turn on our televisions or open our social media accounts, we are met by death on a horrific industrial scale, inflicted by the IDF on the people of Gaza, including on children, healthcare workers and UN workers. There is no line it has not crossed or hospital it has not bombed. The Irish State has been stronger than most. It has verbalised our horror, tried to enact change at an EU level - only recently but it is no less welcome - and now moving towards enacting some parts of the occupied territories Bill, although we will push for this State to go further. Ireland’s contribution has been good but we can do much better. However, we have not been passive observers. That is absolutely fair and I want to acknowledge it. However, that does not mean we have done all in our power to prevent what we and the Government have now referred to as a genocide.

The obligations that come with the recognition of genocide are not just to call it out, but to do everything within one's power to prevent it. There are two very significant ways in which the Government and Irish State are failing in those most serious of obligations. Shannon Airport has become a key node in the transit of US military planes. These carry munitions, personnel and equipment, many of which ends up in Israeli hands to be used more broadly in bombing campaigns across the Middle East. That is not speculation or rhetoric in Parliament; it is documented by Shannonwatch and it is visible in flight logs and on the tarmac. The Government said it does not know for sure what is on those planes and cannot prove direct delivery of arms to Israel but the reality is we refuse to inspect them. We have abdicated any serious oversight and in doing so allowed our neutrality to be quietly eroded. We have allowed Shannon Airport to be turned into what is essentially a military backdoor for the United States. In recent months, people throughout my own party and the Chamber have raised this issue.

My colleague in the Seanad, Senator Patricia Stephenson, has raised issues formally and I wish to speak to some of those. Senator Stephenson wrote to OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud body, to raise concerns that Ireland is potentially facilitating VAT fraud and violating EU customs rules by not inspecting private aircraft and military-linked flights refuelling at Shannon Airport. That letter is now on record and OLAF has been notified. Senator Stephenson wrote to the Attorney General, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance and at this point we have received silence. Let me be clear that it is not about the VAT or breaches of customs regulations but it is about trying to find an angle by which this State can do the right thing. Yet, we have received silence.

Ireland's complicity in what is happening in Gaza does not stop at Shannon. We are facilitating the approval of Israeli state bonds through the Central Bank, which raise money for the Israeli state. That is the same state that is currently under investigation for genocide by the International Court of Justice and we have now aligned ourselves to that case. In doing so, we are providing a financial pipeline for EU-wide legitimacy.

The question is not just whether we are horrified. It is whether we are serious because we have options. We could suspend military overflight and refuelling permissions as Costa Rica and other states have done. We could inspect aircraft at Shannon. We could block approval of sovereign bonds of states that are under investigation for the gravest of crimes. The State has told us it does not have a role so it is incumbent on us now to determine that through the courts and we are hell-bent on doing so because, when a genocide is happening, we are obligated to do everything in our power to stop it. Our history demands that of us.

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