Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

We have seen horrific scenes of the destruction of people in Palestine. It is difficult to pick any single moment but I was struck by a Palestinian paediatrician, Alaa al-Najjar, who fell to her knees with the pain and devastation of witnessing her own children arriving into her emergency department. Her nine children were killed by an Israeli airstrike. They were between the ages of two and 12. To think of such young children being killed is heartbreaking and then to think there is such starvation happening in Gaza as thousands of people are in search of food, yet there is a blockade on humanitarian supplies. Hunger is being used as a weapon of war. This is genocide.

Yesterday, I listened and watched Department officials being questioned at the joint committee on foreign affairs. It was painful. As many members of the Opposition asked important and poignant questions, I was particularly struck by Senator McDowell’s contribution. He raised the point that between member states of the European Union, there is a treaty entitlement that allows member states to prevent the importation of goods on public policy grounds. Has the Irish Government engaged with the European Union to see if this entitlement is available to a country outside the EU? It seems implausible to think that this provision is available within the EU but we cannot enact the same legislation for a country outside the EU, for example, Morocco or Israel, when we could do it for Spain. It is very frustrating.

I have watched conversations and debate here for weeks and this issue has been passed around like a parcel. All the while I have watched the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, respectively, moralise as if we have achieved something. Talk is cheap, and all that has happened has been months and years of conversation and moralising. The time for action is now. What is happening in Gaza is deeply distressing. I would like the Minister of State to take back to the Cabinet the message that we should be doing much more within the European Union to put forward the Irish position and that of the people in Gaza. Right now, we are bystanders on this. We have talked a good game here in this House but that is it. Now is the time to take the lead in the conversation across the European Union and take a more proactive role. We have a history of persecution by a foreign power in this country and we have a key competence in peace negotiations. We should be engaging with the European Union, Israel and, indeed, the Palestinians to work out a solution.

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