Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I also welcome our distinguished guests. I wish to express the sympathies and condolences of the Social Democrats to the families in Donegal and of Brother Kevin.

The official death toll in Gaza has now exceeded 57,000 people but we all know that the reality is much worse because tens of thousands of people are missing, presumed dead under rubble. As the Israeli Government ramps up its depraved slaughter of innocent civilians, western countries continue to sit idly by. Shamefully, the only action taken by many countries is to supply weapons to the Israeli Government and to vilify and criminalise people who are actually doing something to protest this slaughter. In the United States students and workers have been rounded up for joining protests against Israeli war crimes or simply blocked entry. In the UK yesterday the parliament voted to proscribe a group called Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. This was prompted by activists spray painting two RAF planes. Let us be clear, Palestine Action has never harmed anyone. It has certainly never dropped a 500 lb bomb on a seaside café full of innocent people, as Israel did this week. What we are witnessing is grotesque and dystopian. Is the Minister concerned at the rowback of civil rights in countries like America and England? Is he as appalled as I am by the perverse double standards that prevail?

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